Turkey: Avoid export credit guarantees for the Ilisu dam by the Austrian, German and Swiss governments

The Ilisu dam on the River Tigris is part of the giant Southeast Anatolia Regional Development Project (Turkish acronym GAP), one of the biggest regional development projects in the world. Despite the long lasting rejection of the project by the affected local population, a groundbreaking ceremony was conducted very recently by the Turkish government in order to demonstrate its determination for the project.

The construction of the Ilisu dam alone would displace 50.000-80.000 mostly Kurdish people. It would destroy significant cultural heritage, entail severe environmental destruction and lead to violations of several human rights, including the human right to food. The consortium of companies intending to build the dam has applied for support by the export credit agencies of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Any support given by the export credit agencies to this project would be contradictory to these states’ obligations to respect the human rights of the people affected by the construction of the Ilisu dam. Please write letters to the responsible ministries in these three countries to protest against any support to the Ilisu dam project.