Ercan Ayboga (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung)

The Dams at Euphrates and Tigris: On the manifold grave impacts on nature and people

Abstract:
Dams are an important tool for the Turkish government to increase electricity production and large scale irrigated agricultural production for export purposes. The official wording is that this aims at economic development. At the same time, this policy has been developed and implemented without a public discussion of alternatives – after all, 25 years of dam construction has given rise to numerous protests, with campaigns by affected communities as well as NGOs emerging in both Kurdish and also Turkish provinces campaigns. Despite widespread criticism, the government completed almost all big dam projects or is about to do so.The social, ecological and cultural impacts of dams are usually devastating for millions of people. More than 600.000 people have been displaced forcibly and mostly ended up in poverty. The government, companies and some big landowners have profited but not the society. At the same time, most river ecosystems, especially the most diverse ones in biological terms, have been destroyed. The local climate has also often changed significantly. Hundreds of species have gone extinct or are now endangered, archaeological sites flooded, and famous sites like Hasankeyf, Allianoi destroyed. This presentation explores the current situation around the dams, the protests and what the proposals of the campaigns struggling against these dams currently are.

Für weitere Informationen und hybride Optionen bitte wenden an: yichun@uni-bremen.de