Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Urgent call to resolve mounting problems in Hasankeyf

Statement by Hasankeyf Matters and the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive

In years past, the ancient city of Hasankeyf attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, offering them the chance to explore the traces of more than 20 civilizations that contributed to the city’s cultural heritage. With a history spanning 12,000 years, Hasankeyf held a special appeal to visitors from the surrounding region as well as to those from western Turkey, and every corner of the globe. These visitors enabled local residents to provide for their families while also sharing their specialized knowledge of this historic landscape. 

Today, with the completion of the Ilısu Dam and the creation of a huge reservoir covering the old town, conditions in Hasankeyf have deteriorated severely: Local residents face both an immediate crisis of unemployment, and very likely significantly diminished income for years to come. As for the city’s unparalleled cultural heritage, vast tracts of land – holding archaeological and architectural remains of inestimable value – lie unprotected beneath the reservoir. After only a few months of submersion, it is possible to observe significant deterioration in the condition of Hasankeyf’s cultural heritage. 

In recent weeks, for example, it appears that erosion has uncovered what may be human remains near the cave church at the base of Ra’s Kayım, a site at the eastern edge of Hasankeyf’s lower city that figures in local oral historical accounts of the massacres of 1915.* Despite the presence of ample immovable cultural heritage attesting to the significant role that Christians played in Hasankeyf’s history for nearly 2000 years, the city’s Christian element is almost entirely excluded from the Government of Turkey’s cultural heritage conservation program. (This program comprises mainly the Hasankeyf Museum and the adjacent archaeological park.) 

Cave church of Ra's Kayım, at the eastern edge of Hasankeyf, Jan 2020

Bones revealed as water receded, near cave church of Ra's Kayım, August 2020

The remains of villas, madrasahs and cemeteries in Hasankeyf’s Salihiyye Gardens are also showing signs of rapid deterioration. These remains constitute the best-preserved examples of the medieval garden districts typical of Seljuk cities across Anatolia and Persia. Unfortunately, this treasure of Islamic civilization will be lost forever unless urgent action is taken to save it. 



The seepage of water through the rock-and-concrete barrier surrounding Hasankeyf’s Citadel is also a matter of the utmost concern. In late spring, this seepage led to the flooding of the historic monument known as the Küçük Saray (Small Palace) at the northeast corner of the Citadel, raising concern that water may also be seeping into the solid limestone mount upon which the Citadel itself is built. The leaking barrier was built at great expense and has severely marred the appearance of the Citadel. Its failure, placing parts of the Citadel at risk of collapse – just as critics of the Ilısu Dam project had feared – is unacceptable. So too is the long closure of the new Hasankeyf Museum due to significant leaks in its roof. The dismantling of Hasankeyf’s tourism-based economy is also unacceptable. 


The government has never released a substantive and convincing plan for transforming Hasankeyf, post-Ilısu, into a world-class tourist destination. And the evidence is mounting day-by-day that Hasankeyf and its residents will struggle for a long time simply to regain the level of commercial activity enjoyed before the destruction of the historic city.

In light of the deteriorating physical and economic conditions described above, we demand that the Government of Turkey take immediate and urgent steps to halt the damage to, and destruction of, the cultural heritage of Hasankeyf and surrounding areas. There are many ways to generate electricity, but the only way to achieve sustainable and diversified growth in Hasankeyf is by allowing the Tigris River to flow freely and restore the equilibrium of the natural ecosystem

Specifically, we call on the Government to: 

  • Establish an independent, interdisciplinary commission of engineers, architects, cultural heritage conservation professionals, and other experts to evaluate – and report to the public about – the situation at Hasankeyf, including the ongoing threats to the Small Palace and Citadel, as well as progress on repairing/reopening the Hasankeyf Museum. 
  • Establish an independent, interdisciplinary commission, including sociologists, engineers, architects, and housing and urban-planning experts, to ensure that problems in the new settlement area of Hasankeyf are resolved promptly. These include problems with the new housing units, drinking water, and poor drainage during heavy rains.
  • Ensure that all residents forcibly displaced during the implementation of the Ilısu Dam project are provided with access to adequate affordable housing as close as possible to the location of their original homes, regardless of gender, family status, wealth, employment status, or property ownership. All affected people must be compensated according to international law. 
  • Drain the Ilısu Dam reservoir, let the river run free, allow the natural ecosystem to regain its balance, and continue the excavation, documentation, and conservation of the invaluable archaeological and architectural treasure hidden in the soil of Hasankeyf and the surrounding area.
  • Document the intangible cultural heritage of the local residents of Hasankeyf and the nearly 200 villages within the flooded area.
  • Develop systematic mechanisms to include a broad cross-section of stakeholders in a rigorous, consensus-based program to design, implement, and manage a plan for environmentally and socially sustainable development in Hasankeyf and the Upper Tigris basin. Such a plan must preserve the beauty and value of the natural ecosystem for the social, cultural, scientific, and economic benefit of future generations. 

While the Ilısu hydroelectric power plant is designed to produce approximately 4000 GWh of electricity each year (roughly one percent of Turkey’s total annual electricity consumption), there is little question that the cumulative potential cultural, social, educational, and economic benefits to be derived from protecting the cultural heritage of this historic landscape far exceed the anticipated economic impact of the dam project. 

Hasankeyf is one the world’s most valuable archaeological sites. If the reservoir is drained and the natural ecosystem restored, the majestic landscape of Hasankeyf and the Upper Tigris basin could become the anchor for a regional tourism industry based on nature and culture that is both environmentally sustainable and economically profitable. 

For more information: 

www.hasankeyfmatters.com 

www.hasankeyfgirisimi.net 

Notes

* See “Sayfo” in Andreas Fink, Der arabische Dialekt von Hasankeyf am Tigris (Osttürkei), Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 18-20.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Open letter to the Government of Turkey, the suppliers to the Ilısu Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant Project, and the Members of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee

Excavation, documentation and conservation of
cultural heritage in Hasankeyf must continue

24 March 2020

The newly opened Hasankeyf Museum – constructed to preserve some of the artifacts salvaged from Hasankeyf and the region before flooding by Turkey’s controversial Ilısu Hydroelectric Dam – presents a sweeping narrative of the region’s history. The exhibit begins with the geological formation of the Upper Tigris basin, continues through the appearance of organized human settlements in the Neolithic period, and culminates in the city’s flourishing under the Artukids, Ayyubids, and Akkoyunlus in the 12th-15th centuries CE.

The museum collection is impressive not only in its historical scope, but also for the beauty of individual pieces, including rare examples of Neolithic pottery, early Islamic gravestones, and stucco reliefs in the style of the Great Seljuks. Despite its remarkable assets, however, the museum cannot disguise the fact that it is a by-product of the multi-billion-euro Ilısu Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant project, which has brought about the destruction of natural and cultural heritage of inestimable value, denying the affected peoples their right to access their cultural heritage (guaranteed by Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights [ICESCR]) and to be consulted systematically in projects involving the alteration of historic buildings (as enshrined in the Granada Convention, Article 14, and Turkish Approval Law No 3534*).

The museum, together with the reinforced Citadel Mount and the archaeological park (where seven monuments removed from the lower city now stand), constitutes the government’s program to preserve the ancient city’s cultural heritage. Despite its lofty ambitions, this conservation program is deeply flawed on several counts. Two of its most egregious failings are: 1) insufficient coverage of the early Islamic period and 2) the total exclusion of the long-enduring Christian element.

The museum’s coverage of the early Islamic period is limited to a small number of coins and two stones engraved with an early style of Arabic calligraphy. Executed with angular letters in one example, rounded in the other, these inscriptions are two of the most intriguing and important objects in the museum, particularly as stone inscriptions from the early Islamic period are few in number. The discovery of these stones suggests that further archaeological excavation in the lower city of Hasankeyf may well yield new information about the development of Islamic civilization in Upper Mesopotamia in the 7th-9th centuries – a period of history only partially illuminated by textual sources.

Regarding the museum’s coverage of Hasankeyf’s Christian legacy, the display of Christian artifacts consists of five crosses from the Byzantine period, and a visitor would be forgiven for leaving the museum with the idea that the city’s Christian history ended with the Islamic conquest in 640 CE.

This gap in the historical narrative advanced in the Hasankeyf Museum is unconscionable, as there is ample evidence showing that Christians and Christianity played a significant role in the city’s cultural and economic life for more than 1300 years following the advent of Islam.** In the 10th century, for example, Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi notes the city’s numerous churches,*** while Ottoman records from the late 16th century indicate that of 1700 households in Hasankeyf, nearly 60 percent were Christian.**** There is also significant immovable cultural heritage remaining in Hasankeyf today that attests to the historical Christian presence, including cave churches on either side of the lower city. Stone masonry structures include the Tareke Church^ at the heart of the lower city (near the original site of the Rizk Mosque), Deiriki Church (also known as the Church of the Forty Martyrs^^) below the southeastern corner of the Citadel, and the Monastery of Mor Aho, which was endowed by residents of the villages of Atafiye and Difne/Üçyol in the 16th century.^^^,^*

Tareke Church, Kale Neighborhood, Hasankeyf
Saha Church, Hasankeyf

It is a dereliction of Turkey’s duty as owner of the historic city of Hasankeyf to leave the immovable cultural heritage of the city’s erstwhile Christian community undocumented and unprotected. Today, Hasankeyf residents continue to value the Christian dimension of their cultural heritage, recounting their experiences working side-by-side with Christian neighbors as they began their careers as tailors, weavers, or traders. Many note that just a few generations back their families had been Christian. And residents often share their knowledge about Hasankeyf’s Christian districts, churches and monasteries.^**

The total erasure of the Christian legacy from the Hasankeyf landscape, whether due to neglect or otherwise, would constitute a severe and reprehensible violation of the universal human right to participate in the cultural life of the community, including access to cultural heritage. Urgent action is required to ensure that these monuments are not lost due to their express exclusion from the government’s cultural heritage conservation program for Hasankeyf. The 2003 UNESCO Declaration concerning the Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage affirms that “cultural heritage is an important component of the cultural identity of communities, groups and individuals, and of social cohesion, so that its intentional destruction may have adverse consequences on human dignity or human rights.” There is no justification for the near-total exclusion of Christianity from the museum and the adjacent collection of monuments transferred from the ancient city.

To remedy this situation, the Turkish government must, at a minimum, halt the filling of the Ilısu Reservoir (by opening the flood gates to allow a controlled flow of water) and continue archaeological excavations in order to document and preserve important aspects of Hasankeyf’s cultural heritage, focusing in particular on the early Islamic period, the enduring Christian element, and the evolution of Muslim-Christian interactions from the 7th to 20th centuries. The continuation of archaeological excavation and conservation work would also create employment opportunities for local residents who face an extended period of economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, in particular, its negative impact on the tourism sector.

We also demand that all strategic partners in the Ilısu Dam project supply chain, especially the companies Andritz, Nurol, Cengizler, Er-Bu and Bresser, and the banks GarantiBBVA and Akbank, use their leverage to avert the total elimination of Hasankeyf’s Christian legacy.

Furthermore, UNESCO’s silence on the Hasankeyf controversy is unacceptable. Although Hasankeyf very likely meets 9 of 10 criteria for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage List^***, the provision that only States Parties can nominate a site has kept it from being recognized for protection, despite years of pleas from civil society, municipalities and scientists. The Ilısu Dam project has progressed in an atmosphere of intermittent armed conflict and ongoing repression of civil rights, where affected peoples and diverse stakeholders have been repeatedly and strongly discouraged from expressing their views. Therefore, the flooding of Hasankeyf and the Upper Tigris basin is a violation of the basic human right to participate in the cultural life of the community, which is affirmed by the ICESCR (Article 15), as well as a violation of the Granada Convention (CETS 121, Article 14), which requires systematic and sustained consultation with the public regarding the alternation of historic buildings.

We call upon the Members of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee to urgently create mechanisms affording diverse stakeholders (including affected peoples, civil society organizations, scholars, and others) to make their concerns known and to play a substantive role in identifying candidate sites for World Heritage listing and monitoring/managing listed sites.

Signed:

Hasankeyf Matters
Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive
The Corner House
FIVAS Association for International Water Studies
Humat Dijlah (Tigris River Protectors Association)
Riverwatch
Save the Tigris Campaign


Notes:

https://teftis.ktb.gov.tr/TR-14268/avrupa-mimari-mirasinin-korunmasi-sozlesmesi.html
** For photographs of the monuments noted here, see: http://www.hasankeyfmatters.com/2020/02/the-disappearing-christian-heritage-of.html
*** “Hisn Kaifa,” Encyclopedia of Islam, 1st edition, Leiden: Brill, 1913-36.
**** According to the İslam Ansiklopedisi (“Hasankeyf,” İslam Ansiklopedisi, 16. Cilt, İstanbul: Diyanet Vakfı, 1997.
^ Oluş Arık, Hasankeyf: Üç Dünyanın Buluştuğu Kent, p. 188-90.
^^ Gernot Wiessner, “Derike: Kirche der vierzig Märtyrer,” Christliche Kultbauten im Tur Abdin, Teil IV, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1993, p. 129-36.
^^^ Gernot Wiessner, “Üçyol (Difne), Der el-Muhr: Klosterkirche,” Christliche Kultbauten im Tur Abdin, Teil I, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1982, p. 110-115.
^* According to a note in Arabic dated 1560, the endowment/waqf for the monastery was established in 1543. See Academia.edu for English original of A. Palmer, 'La montagne aux LXX monasteres: geographie monastique de Tur 'Abdin', in F. Jullien (ed.), Le monachisme syriaque (Paris 2012), p. 22.
^** cf. Andreas Fink, Der arabische Dialekt von Hasankeyf am Tigris (Osttürkei): Geschichte – Grammatik – Texte – Glossar, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2017, p. 19.
^*** Zeynep Ahunbay and Özge Balkız, “Outstanding Universal Value of Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley,” Doğa Derneği, https://www.dogadernegi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Outstanding-universal-value-of-hasankeyf-and-the-tigris-valley.pdf

Monday, February 17, 2020

The disappearing Christian heritage of Hasankeyf

The recently opened Hasankeyf Museum in the new town offers visitors an extraordinary glimpse of everyday life in the Neolithic age – when humans first began living in settled communities. Its collection of archaeological and architectural remains from Hasankeyf also includes rare examples of early Islamic gravestones, Roman and Late-Roman/Byzantine jewelry and coins, and architectural decorations from the middle centuries of Islamic civilization, when Hasankeyf was ruled by a succession of dynasties: Artukid, Ayyubid and Akkoyunlu.

While the historical scope of the museum is impressive, its presentation of artifacts from Hasankeyf’s Christian community is surprisingly weak. Indeed, many visitors will no doubt leave with the idea that the city’s Christian history ended with the advent of Islam in the 7th century. But ample evidence shows that a significant portion of Hasankeyf’s population remained Christian for more than 1300 years afterward.

In the 10th century, for example, Arab geographer al-Muqaddisi notes the city’s numerous churches,* while Ottoman records from the late 16th century indicate that of 1700 households in Hasankeyf, nearly 60 percent were Christian.**

There is also considerable physical evidence attesting to a vibrant Christian community enduring into the later centuries of the Ottoman Empire. Unfortunately, most of this has been left unprotected beneath the waters of the new Ilısu Dam reservoir.

Take, for example, the cave church at the foot of Ra’s Kayim, the hill at the eastern edge of Hasankeyf’s lower city. Its interior walls are adorned in a pattern of crosses carved from the stone.

Cave church at foot of Ra's Kayim

Cave church interior walls

In the cave chapel of Saha Valley, at the southwest corner of the lower city, there is a distinctive cross and a number of graves.

Cave chapel in Saha Valley

Cross inside Saha Valley cave chapel

There are also stone masonry churches in the heart of the city and its outlying districts, such as Tareke Church, hidden among the houses above the recently demolished Hasankeyf market. This church, which reflects a building style common throughout southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq, is believed to have been the only structure to survive the demolition of a Christian neighborhood during construction of a highway bridge in the early 1970s.*** 

Tareke Church

Tareke Church detail

While Tareke Church and the cave churches on the edge of the lower city will soon be flooded, Deiriki Church (which stands behind the Citadel) and Mor Aho Monastery (on the outskirts of Defne or Üç Yol Village) will both remain on dry land. However, without proper conservation, these monuments will likely succumb to the forces of time and vandals. They require urgent attention to ensure that they are preserved in a way that safeguards both their structural viability and historical authenticity.

Mor Aho Monastery

Mor Aho Monastery interior

Deiriki Church
Deiriki Church

Deiriki Church detail

The Hasankeyf Museum’s display of five crosses from the Byzantine period in no way suffices to document the long, rich history of Christianity in the region. It is particularly disturbing that the caves and stone masonry structures attesting to the contribution of Christian communities to the cultural life of Hasankeyf across millennia are largely undocumented, unprotected and absent from the new Hasankeyf Museum and Archaeological Park. The museum also completely ignores the important role Christians played in the city’s social and cultural history under Muslim rule, missing the opportunity to explore how these communities interacted with one another throughout the ages.

Today, the region’s Christian population is dwindling rapidly. This fact only heightens the urgency with which the Turkish Government must act to conserve the cultural heritage of diverse civilizations in Hasankeyf, rather than allowing it to disappear – either due to flooding by the Ilısu Reservoir or to benign neglect.

We call upon the Turkish authorities to stop the filling of the Ilısu Reservoir so that work may continue to research and document the important aspects of cultural heritage, including Hasankeyf’s Christian past, that have been neglected or omitted from the historical narrative presented in the Hasankeyf Museum. 

Notes on sources:

* “Hisn Kaifa,” Encyclopedia of Islam, 1st edition, Leiden: Brill, 1913-36.

** According to the İslam Ansiklopedisi (“Hasankeyf,” İslam Ansiklopedisi, 16. Cilt, İstanbul: Diyanet Vakfı, 1997).

*** Oluş Arık, Hasankeyf: Üç Dünyanın Buluştuğu Kent, p. 188-90.

Monday, February 3, 2020

Latest news from Hasankeyf

The waters of the Ilısu Dam reservoir are starting to rise, but people are still fighting to save Hasankeyf and let the world know about the irreparable damage being done to cultural heritage, ecosystems, and communities.

Please follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates. We are also compiling recent media coverage of Hasankeyf on our In the News page.

Additional resources on Twitter for those who understand Turkish include the accounts of Hasankeyf'i Yașatma Girişimi and Hasankeyf Koordinasyonu and the hashtag #HasankeyfİçinGeçDeğil -- It's Not Too Late for Hasankeyf. 

Monday, August 20, 2018

Bresser’s conduct in last year’s relocation of the Zeynel Bey Tomb did not comply with OECD Guidelines

*** The Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive *** Hasankeyf Matters ***
*** FIVAS – The Association for International Water Studies ***


Summary
The Dutch NCP for the OECD Guidelines has concluded that Bresser, a small to medium-size Dutch enterprise, “has not fully met the expectations and satisfied the due diligence criteria of the OECD Guidelines” in the project to relocate the Zeynel Bey Tomb, in Hasankeyf, in Southeastern Turkey. The tomb is a late-15th-century monument of extraordinary cultural value and a symbol of the rich cultural heritage of the region. Its relocation impacts the human right to culture of the affected people. Companies of all sizes are expected to consider and minimize the potential impact of their activities on human rights.

The NCP notes that Bresser made some effort to carry out due diligence with regard to the involvement of the local community, but recommends that Bresser adopt a more structured approach before engaging in a project, in order to avoid contributing to adverse human rights impacts. In order to avoid a violation of the human right to culture, a broad consultation with all stakeholders, including the local community, should have been conducted prior to the removal of the Zeynel Bey Tomb. The NCP’s statement also confirms that under the Guidelines, companies of all sizes, regardless of their location in the supply chain, are responsible for conducting adequate due diligence in order to prevent adverse impacts to human rights, including the right to culture/the right to cultural heritage and its conservation.

Introduction
On August 20, the Dutch National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (“the Guidelines”) published its final statement concerning the notification about Bresser. (A Turkish translation of the final statement is available here.) The final statement notes that the parties did not reach an agreement through a mediated dialogue. In its final statement, the NCP recommends changes in Bresser’s behavior. The notification was filed by the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive (Turkey), Hasankeyf Matters (Turkey), and the Association for International Water Studies (FIVAS, Norway).

Bresser, working as a sub-contractor to the Turkish firm Er-Bu İnşaat, supplied the technology and skills essential to the relocation of the Zeynel Bey Tomb. The monument was built as the burial place of an Akkuyunlu prince killed in battle against the Ottomans in 1473. The tomb was relocated on May 12, 2017, under the protection of armed security forces, as part of the controversial Ilisu Dam project, which is expected to flood the ancient city of Hasankeyf and large parts of the Tigris River Valley.

Plaintiffs urge Bresser to cease work in Hasankeyf
The organizations that filed the complaint have asked Bresser to cease all activity in Hasankeyf until a proper human rights assessment and the attendant due diligence are carried out. The plaintiffs maintain that Bresser’s contribution to moving the Tomb without the involvement and consent of the local population and other stakeholders makes the company responsible for a violation of the human right to culture. A sufficient due diligence would have made it possible for the company to identify and mitigate the adverse impacts. By moving the monument without consultation and infringing upon human rights, the project is also in breach of both Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (CETS 121) as well as what is considered best practice for a European structural relocation company.

The NCP’s recommendations
The NCP states that that Bresser should have used its leverage “as a supplier of essential technical knowledge and experience” and should have “ensured more thoroughly with the main contractor [Er-Bu İnşaat] and/or DSI, that procedures are in place providing sufficient opportunities for stakeholders to participate in project development and implementation.” The NCP states that this case shows that Bresser has not fully carried out the due diligence necessary to satisfy the expectations of the criteria of the OECD guidelines. The NCP further notes that Bresser did some efforts to carry out due diligence, but that these measures were not adequate to meet fully the expectations established by the Guidelines. The NCP recommends that the company adopt a more structured approach and show a clearer inclusion of risks external to the company in their risk management system.

All companies have a responsibility to conduct due diligence
This decision is noteworthy for the international business community, as it affirms that all companies, including SMEs, have a responsibility to conduct risk-based due diligence under the Guidelines. The NCP acknowledges that “the size of the enterprise does not affect its responsibility to conduct due diligence, but may affect its manner of carrying out due diligence.”

It is also worth nothing that the Dutch NCP confirms that cultural rights are part of human rights, meaning that international businesses of all sizes and status in supply chains should include the potential adverse impacts on cultural rights and the right to cultural heritage and its conservation as part of human rights risk-based due diligence processes.

The project continues to deny the right to stakeholder consultation
It is alarming to observe that Bresser continues to assist Er-Bu and the DSI in the removal of select architectural elements. On August 6, the historic hamam (bath) was relocated using techniques similar to those used in removing the tomb, but now with even less transparency/public disclosure. The project continues to exclude a broad cross-section of relevant stakeholders, including the local community and independent experts in cultural heritage conservation, from the selection of monuments, the manner of removal, and their future location.

While the final statement makes clear that Bresser’s actions and policies have not fully met the expectations established in the Guidelines, the fact that Bresser continues to participate in the removal of Hasankeyf monuments, with virtually no change in its behavior, raises questions about how the OECD Guidelines can help commercial enterprises to identify potential synergies between ethical corporate behavior and the creation of economic value.

We call upon Bresser to halt all work in Hasankeyf until the cultural heritage conservation project is conducted in a way that meets the expectations established in the Guidelines.

The Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive
Hasankeyf Matters
Fivas

Zeynel Bey Tomb, new location, (from southeast, May 2018)

Zeynel Bey Tomb, new location (from northwest, May 2018)


Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Stand against the destruction of Hasankeyf: Join the Global Action Day on 28 April

Spring in Hasankeyf is typically a joyful time of new growth – of flowers blooming in the canyons and gardens, of young lambs and kids tottering about on unsteady legs, of wild herbs ripe for the picking and cooking. This year, though, the feeling is more of endings than beginnings as pressure mounts on Hasankeyf shopkeepers to vacate the historic bazaar and work continues apace to cover the cliff face of the citadel mount and create access roads for the relocation of monuments.

Construction of earthen wall in front of the Citadel (March 2018)

But it is still not too late to save Hasankeyf.

A long tradition of gardening continues to this day (March 2018)
The Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive and the Mesopotamia Ecology Movement have called for 28 April 2018 to be a Global Action Day for Hasankeyf and Sûr, the historic center of Diyarbakır (Amed in Kurdish), which has also sustained serious damage to its cultural heritage.

"Hasankeyf and Sûr are two historical sites inhabited by people continuously for thousands of years at the Tigris River in Upper Mesopotamia," the organizers write. "The two places have also become symbols of resistance against ecological and social destruction by large investment projects."

You can join that resistance by organizing creative solidarity actions in your own towns and cities on Saturday, 28 April 2018, to raise awareness about what is going on in Hasankeyf and Sûr, and to urge governments, companies, banks, and international organizations like the UN to either cease their involvement with the destructive projects in both places or speak out against them.

With public pressure from individuals and civil-society organizations, the Action Day organizers write, "the defense of these two sites is still possible and may give hope against further cultural, social, and ecological destruction and strengthen the perspective for peace."

For more information about the Global Action Day, contact The Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive.

New bridge and road construction for removal of monuments (March 2018)

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Hasankeyf merchants to protest DSİ's eviction order

Merchants in Hasankeyf have agreed to gather at the old municipal building this morning to express their opposition to the eviction notice issued by the DSİ (Turkey's State Hydraulic Works). They continue to insist that it is too early to move to the new settlement area, which cannot at present support a level of commercial activity anywhere near that of the current market in historic Hasankeyf.
 
Hasankeyf market, March 2018

It has been a month since the DSİ issued a tebligat (official notice) ordering the merchants to vacate their present stores. Pressure is mounting. A few Hasankeyf residents have been forced to move from their homes on Dicle Sokak, and these houses have been demolished to make way for the removal of architectural elements.

Demolition of homes along Dicle Sokak (21 March 2018)

To force the merchants out of their current locations before the new settlement area can support commercial activity would potentially violate the universal human right to work (as outlined in our letter to DSİ executives two weeks ago). The universal right to work is guaranteed by Turkey's 1982 Constitution (e.g., IV. Freedom to work and make contracts, Article 48; V. Work-related Provisions, Article 49).

The level of economic injustice perpetrated by the state (according to procedures defined in a Council of State Declaration issued in 2015 and amended in 2016) is completely out of line with international conventions and standards for sustainable economic development:
  • Some Hasankeyf merchants have not been allowed to purchase new commercial property because they reside in surrounding villages and were, therefore, excluded from the compensation and relocation plan set up for Hasankeyf residents.
  • Others report that they have been the denied the right to buy commercial property because they are not married.
  • Some local entrepreneurs who have been operating various businesses in Hasankeyf for years have nonetheless been prevented from buying property due to bureaucratic technicalities (e.g., missing the cut-off date for registering a business, which was several years before the announcement in 2015 of procedures for resettlement).
  • A number of business owners have borrowed money to purchase equipment and/or merchandise and worry that they face severe financial hardship, or ruin, if they are not able to continue doing business in their current location.
An unofficial English translation of the 2015 Council of State Declaration is available here.

We reiterate our hope that the merchants of Hasankeyf will be allowed to conduct business in their current locations at least until the cultural heritage conservation project is nearing completion and the majority of residents of Hasankeyf have moved to the new settlement area.

The route for removal of monuments is under construction (March 2018)