Gone with the water

When The Southeastern Anatolia Project in Turkey started, the perspective was improving people’s lives through sustainable development. The Ilısu Dam is one of the 22 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project and its aim is hydroelectric power production, flood control and water storage. But the story of Hasankyf along with 52 villages where will be submerged by the end of this projects is a heartbreaking outcome. Hasankeyf has met nine out of ten criteria for Unesco’s world heritage sites. Even their solutions for keeping historical sites are not useful. In the last few years, the government’s program of so-called “monument relocation and consolidation of rocks” has seriously damaged the cultural heritage in Hasankeyf. However, the stories of those houses in the villages, their people and the shadow of their memories over the centuries and the unique relationship they have with the mountain will be changed forever with this relocation. The right to live, the right to remember the history and keep it for the future is missing in those plans towards development. The streets, all the walls and the look in the people’s eyes are telling about something precious in danger, the Mesopotamian culture.