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Turkey: Nearly 2000 affected Kurds demonstrated in
Hasankeyf against the planned Ilisu dam
23.5.2007
Re-written by eKurd.net staff |
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May
23, 2007
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern region of
Turkey, (eKurd.net), -- On 20th May nearly
2000 Kurds affected by the planned Ilisu and
Hydroelectric Power plant (HEPP) demonstrated to
protest the destructive Ilisu project.
The demonstration started at 1 p.m. in the village "Kesmeköprü
II" and end in the antique city of Hasankeyf. (The
village Kesmeköprü II is close to the Tigris River,
approx. 4 km west of Hasankeyf city and lies on the
road between Batman and Hasankeyf.)
People from all dam affected areas took part in the
demonstration, i.e. from Hasankeyf inhabitants and
people from the 199 affected villages in five
different provinces. Beside the dam affected people
also people from cities like Batman participated in
order to support them in their protest against the
Ilisu dam project.
When the demonstration started the men took off
their top and walked half naked to Hasankeyf. The
people had banners like Ilisu dam is the massacre of
history. Do not destroy 10.000 years of history for
50 years energy. No displacement through Ilisu dam.
The people had slogans like Hasankeyf is history, it
will stay history. The demonstration was accompanied
by the traditional drum and wind instrument (davul-zurna).
When the people entered Hasankeyf they were welcomed
by hundreds of Kurds in the streets of Hasankeyf
with applause.
The demonstration ended in Hasankeyf close to the
river with a short manifestation where speeches by
the dam affected people and by different invited
representatives and persons will be held.
At first Mesut Aydin from the organizators said that
the planned Ilisu dam is one of the biggest of
culture destruction in the world, that Hasankeyf
which is one of the main places in Mesopotamia and
would never been flooded if it would be in Europe,
that the Ilisu dam will desert a whole region and
that it would destroy the rich ecosystem of Tigris
valley.
Another speaker was Oktay Konyar, the leader of the
Bergama villager in the province who are struggling
against the destruction of their through a gold
mine.
He said that resistance is very important for any
success, further that the Kurds are active against
indemocratic treatment and destruction of
livelihoods but not enough the people in the west of
Turkey.
He also demanded the stop of military operations in
the Kurdish region of Turkey.
The demonstration was mainly organized by the
Initiative for free and equal citizen, together with
our Initiative all preparation was done.
The dam affected people showed that after the
approval of the export credit guarantees by the
German, Austrian and Swiss governments end of March
2007 the protest and resistance against the Ilisu
project is continuing. And there are planned more
activities in the next weeks.
zanin.eu
Hasankeyf (Greek: Kiphas; Latin: Cepha;
Syriac: Heskîf; Kurdish: Hesenkeyf) is a city
located along the Tigris River in Batman Province in
southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, densely inhabited by
Kurds. It is an ancient city, with roots going back
10,000 years. It was declared a natural conservation
area by Turkey in 1981.
The Kurdish people form the majority in this city.
The Romans had built a fortress on the site and the
city became a bishopric under the Byzantine Empire.
It was conquered by the Arabs, in ca. 640, who built
a bridge over the Tigris river. The city was
successively ruled by the Artukids and Ayyubids. The
city was captured and sacked by the Mongols in 1260.
Following the Ottoman ascendancy established by
Selim I in the region in early 16th century, the
city has become part of the Ottoman Empire since the
reign of Sultan Süleyman I's campaign of Irakeyn
(the two Iraqs, e.g. Arabian and Persian) in 1534,
at the same time as Diyarbakır, Mosul, Baghdad and
Basra. |
Hasankeyf on the Tigris River
The demonstration was accompanied by the traditional
drum
Photo: Received from
Zanîn Hannover
Photo: Received from
Zanîn Hannover |
Hasankeyf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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