Turkey’s Hasankeyf, a city with long 12000 years of history, is unfortunately going to submerge into a dam called ‘Ilisu’. The city is surrounded by limestone cliffs and holds thousands of human-made caves, 300 medieval monuments and a unique ravine ecosystem. Much of the city and its archeological sites are at stake of being flooded with the completion of Turkey’s second largest dam – Ilisu.
Ilusu dam has been built with the purpose of boosting the economy of the long-neglected region, through hydroelectric energy and irrigation.
It is a central element of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) and has been built at the mouth of the river Tigris, that runs through Hasankeyf.
The project, facing a strong opposition from the residents, over the fear of destructing the historic town as well as the environment, is now being carefully executed by the government, taking all measures to protect the historical monuments.
In last August, the 1,600-tonne Artuklu Hamam bath house was shifted to a new place, being loaded on a wheeled platform. Workers also relocated the remainings of a 14th-century Ayyubid mosque recently, moving it 3 kms, to a site which is proposed to be a cultural park.
With all such transferring activities Hasankeyf is looking like a construction site, that happened to be a tourist corner. However the government has assured the public with the promise of building a “new Hasankeyf” with spacious flats and an ultra-modern hospital, flanking the river.
The dam is being designed to be an adventure tourist hot spot with varied water sports like boating, cable car riding, diving etc. and there by boost tourism.
