Ilisu/Hasankeyf

News and developments on the destructive Ilisu Dam Project and the threatened 12.000 years old town Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley

1) On the 14th July (Sunday) the announced “BIG JUMP” will be done in Hasankeyf for the defense of the Tigris Valley with its People, Flora, Fauna and Culture. We expect several hundred people to join!

Until now we have the information that solidarity action will be done in: Istanbul, Antalya, Ankara, Dersim, Sarajevo, Valparaiso/Chile, Berlin, Hamburg, Mainz, London, Kopenhagen, Manlleu/Catalonia, Rome. You can also go to your river, lake or sea and “jump” into the water for the Tigris and your waters. Share you pictures and videos the same day using the hashtag #SaveHasankeyf (fyi: in Turkish we use the hashtag: #HasankeyfİçinGeçDeğil)

2) On 10th July 2019, 24 civil society organizations from the state of IRAQ have sent a letter to the Turkish Government and request to abandon the decision to flood the Ilisu Dam! This important letter has been initiated by the Save the Tigris Campaign which we join as the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive as well. See the whole letter here: https://www.savethetigris.org/a-message-on-ilisu-dam-from-iraqi-civil-society-to-the-turkish-government/

3) On the 13th July 2019 more than 20 deputies and co-mayors from the surrounding municipalities from the People’s Democratic Party will gather in Hasankeyf in order to protest the Ilisu Dam and request its stop. We have request also other oppositional parties in Turkey to act openly against the Ilisu Dam!

4) On 5th July 10, in Istanbul several civil society organizations and ecological-political activists have founded the “Hasankeyf Coordination” in order to coordinate the activities for Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley in the West of Turkey better and stronger. We as the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive are part of it. See: http://www.hasankeyfgirisimi.net/?p=1031

5) The big NGO Europa Nostra has done a statement on Hasankeyf on the 28th June 2019 and said that it is not too late to save Hasankeyf. Europa Nostra selected in 2016 Hasankeyf selected as one of the 7 most endangered cultural sites in Europe. See here for statement: http://www.europanostra.org/its-not-too-late-to-save-hasankeyf/?fbclid=IwAR3am0KvtZCCjH7CApABwZF5SOUNfuWWTH-WDGmP5M_FBpioriMbhOwOPm8

6) In the attachment is a painting from the Kurdish artist Zehra Dogan on Hasankeyf. It has been spread by us and others two weeks ago in the social media. It is about Hacer, a girl with a sheep in her hands in Hasankeyf. In the next weeks we expect more contribution from artists for our campaign against the destructive Ilisu Dam!