The Ilisu Dam Environmental Impact Assessment Report: Review and critique

Abstract

Pessimists about the power of public opinion against global corporations should take heart from the developments over the Ilisu Dam project in Turkey. In mid-November 2001, the main British engineering contractor, Balfour Beatty, pulled out of the whole project after a barrage of informed criticisms of the political, ecological, social and archaeological implications of Ilisu. Up to then, the British government had clung to its decision to offer the firm export credit guarantees for the dam. One of the most devastating and detailed condemnations came from two archaeologists, Maggie Ronayne and Willy Kitchen. Below, we print extracts from their review of the Ilisu Dam Environmental Impact Assessment Report (full text available on http://www.wac.uct.ac.za/whd/ eiarfinal.htm). The range of concerns expressed by the authors, like the protests from the Wodd Archaeological Congress which we printed in the last issue of this journal, demonstrate the scope and power of public archaeology in political action. This may not be the end of the story, however. The Turkish government insists that Ilisu must go ahead. At the time of writing, there is a possibility that Turkey might demand American export credit guarantees for a US replacement for Balfour Beatty, in return for Turkey's participation in the international force in Afghanistan.