From: hrcoord@igc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: TURKEY: The launch of a controversi
Date: 28 Jul 92 16:54:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1475100138:000:7301
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jul 28 09:54:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: TURKEY: The launch of a controversi

/* Written 12:04 am  Jul 28, 1992 by newsdesk in
cdp:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: TURKEY: The launch of a controversial development
project/SERIES/

an inter press service feature

by nadire mater

att editors:   the following is the first of a series of three
features on the controversy surrounding the construction of a
massive irrigation project in                   south- east
turkey. the second and third stories                   will follow
later saturday

istanbul, jul 25 (ips) -- the ataturk dam, the first completed
segment of the ambitious multi-billion dollar south-eastern
development project (sdp), opens saturday under a cloud of
controversy.

around 1.5 million dollars has been spent on the inauguration
ceremony alone, with delegates from heads of states of 44
countries invited to attend.

the idea was first conceived during the 1950s by prime minister
suleyman demirel (then general director of state drainage
administration) when it was determined that the project would
raise national power production two-fold and increase agricultural
production eight-fold.

it was originally designed for power production on the river
euphrates, but was expanded to include tigris in the 1970s when it
was converted into a regional development project. both rivers
supply nearly one-third of total water resources in turkey.

the sdp will involve the construction of 22 dams, 19 hydroelectric
power plants, thousands of kilometres of irrigation canals and two
gigantic tunnels which should radically transform agriculture in
the region. annually 27 billion kilowatts of electric power will
be produced when the whole project is completed.

the project is intended to irrigate a total area of two million
hectares and will provide water for six million people living in
the south-eastern kurdish provinces of adiyaman, batman,
diyarbakir, gaziantep, mardin, siirt, sirnak, and sanliurfa.

successive turkish governments have put great faith in the project
which they expect to work like a magic wand relieving the country
of chronic problems like under-development, unemployment and
kurdish segregation.

turkish prime minister suleyman demirel certainly thinks so, but
critics argue that the sdp is putting an unnecessary burden on the
turkish economy. (more/ips)

turkey: the launch of a controversial development
project/series/(2)

turkey: the (2)

they blame the country's galloping inflation rate (73 percent in
1991) on the enormous 28 billion dollar investment in the sdp.

baedrettin dalan, ex-mayor of istanbul and a deputy of ruling
coalition partner true path party (dyp), estimates that south-
eastern development project expenditure is responsible for 20
percent of the annual inflation rate, while besim tibuk, an
industrial tycoon says it could be as much as 50 percent.

but prime minister demirel says that it's the financial deficit in
the public sector that is the main cause for the soaring inflation
rate, and maintains the project is a blessing not a burden.

the prime minister has the support of professor osman tekinel,
dean of the faculty of agriculture, cukurova university, who says
that the cotton industry will flourish -- so much so that
production from the sdp area will be greater than what is produced
in the whole country.

in addition to irrigation and electric power production, the
project is also expected to open 3.5 million new jobs in mining,
transportation, education, health, communication and tourism.

but dalan is not convinced by these projections which he terms
''empty talk''. it's all a ''total mistake'', he said.

''the dam is completed, but the tunnels are not. when the tunnels
are finished, there will be no canals and drainage systems. the
project lacks any coordination. power is produced in the east but
the industry is concentrated in the west. the money is spent in a
totally wrong way. there is no timing.''

charging that after 15 years of effort, none of the tunnels are
yet completed, dalan said that without the completion of the
tunnels and irrigational canals, nothing will change in terms of
agricultural development.

a large section of the business community is in agreement with
dalan.

cem boyner, ex-chairperson of tusiad (association of turkish
industrialists and businessmen) queries whether the money might
not have been better spent on five metropolitan centre, which
could have been built with 30 percent of the entire sum budgeted
for the project.

''it is an irrational and unintelligible investment. the economy
is shifted towards agriculture at a time when agricultural crops
are diminishing in value in the world market,'' boyner said.

business tycoon bulent eczacibasi, who is now the tusiad chairman
also believes the ''huge transfer of resources in the agricultural
sector is very questionable''.(more/ips)

turkey: the launch of a controversial development
project/series/(3-e)

turkey: the (3)

besim tibuk, the owner of the industrial conglomerate net holding,
charged that the project is ''an economic crime''.

economist arslan baser kafaoglu, who has been criticising the
project for years, charges that it is also technically flawed. in
the first place, kafaoglu says that euphrates lacks the necessary
flow of water to supply the requirements of the project. ''the
tigris on the other hand is nothing but a tiny creek.''

''you can not be making the sacrifice today for an unfeasible
project which will not be completed before 2025,'' concludes
kafaoglu.

but prime minister demirel, who is generally regarded as the
''godfather'' of the project, expects that the sdp will be
completed in 15 years.

demirel, who was general director of the state drainage
administration, blames government instability during the decade of
the 70s for the slow realisation of his dream project. here he
referred to the military coups of 1971 and 1980.

the international money fund (imf) and other international
financial institutions had refused to give credits for the project
following the 1980 military coup.

as a result, with the exception of the foreign credit obtained
from japan and switzerland for the construction of the power units
at the ataturk dam, it was an exclusively domestic financial
effort.

''you cannot approach the matter only in economic terms. the
socio-political aspect must also be considered. you cannot allow a
part of the country to remain underdeveloped while the other part
is developing,'' says demirel in defence of the project.

but mahmut alinak, a people's labour party (hep) deputy from
sirnak province holds out little hope for the project achieving
any success from an economic standpoint. in his opinion, ''the
power produced in the region will be exploited by the rich
industrialists in the west. and that will make the rich richer,
and the poor, poorer.''

in order for the local kurdish population to benefit, alinak
insists that the project must be based on ''just land reform'';
petty farmers must be supported with ''state subsidies''; and
''foreign and domestic markets must be opened for crops''.
(end/ips/np-st/nm/cpg/92)
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