World protest campaign for the shipwreck of Hasankeyf in Mesopotamia
- The Turkish Government has decided to wreck the former Kurdish people of Hasankeyf, in western Turkey, in order to carry out a hydroelectric project. On the banks of the Tigris River, in the heart of Mesopotamia, a campaign was launched to denounce the disaster of the valuable archaeological heritage of the Kurds. Among other things, they have denounced that BBVA is involved in the project.
The platform for Hasankeyf has received many expressions of solidarity throughout the world and throughout the world. Chile, Italy, Iraq, Germany, Catalonia, Basque Country… All have shown their solidarity with the Kurds, as in addition to destroying an archeologically rich place, the project will have consequences in Turkish Kurdistan and in several Iraqi regions.
In addition to the old town of Hasankeyf, the hydroelectric dam is one of the populations that want to sink. According to different estimates, the number of people required by the Ilisu Dam will be between 40.000-78,000.
The Ilisuko Dam project is located in the province of Batman, in North Kurdistan. This, in turn, is the origin of the Tigris River, and the dam will seriously affect the entire course of the river. Iraq is a country at risk of continuing desertification and the Tigris River is key to its survival, both in its population and in its ecosystem. The dam, for example, will affect the swamps situated a thousand kilometres south of the country.
BBVA section
BBVA Guarantee has half of the Turkish bank, the third largest bank in Turkey. The project is funded by the banks Guarantee and Akbank, in equal parts. That is why BBVA funds a quarter of the project. This has caused great indignation in the environmental and internationalist groups of the Spanish State and the Basque Country, and protests and attacks against the bank have begun.
Natural Conservation Area
Hasankeyf was declared a Natural Conservation Area by Turkey in 1981, but this protection is not being respected. That is why some local activists have initiated proceedings for the area to be declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which declares that it meets nine of the ten requirements for declaring Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley of the World Heritage Site.
Turkish helicopters and fighter aircraft cover the sky in the Kurdish area in northern Iraq. The Turkish Air Force has bombed 381 sites in the major military operation in recent weeks in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region (DRC). The Turkish Ministry of Defence has stated that "the... [+]
Urtzi Urrutikoetxea nazioarteko kazetariarekin mintzatu gara Radio Kobanen, iaz idatzitako Kurdistan-Argi bat ekialde hurbilean liburuari buruz. Testuak azken urteetako gertakizunei erreparatzen die, eta atzerago ere begiratzen du herri kurduaren egoera politikoa eta... [+]
