Narrator: |
Poseidon.
Acionna. Gods who ruled the waters of the ancient world. Now briefly exposed
to the harsh light of day for the first time in 17 centuries, before being
consigned to a watery grave. The modern Republic of Turkey now rules this
land. A state determined on development at any cost. Even if it means
sacrificing a rich past. Turkey is erecting its own monuments to history. A
massive, 40 billion dollar dams project, now flooding vast tracks of the
southeast for irrigation and electricity generation, but the masters of this
grand vision are also generating controversy. |
|
Officially,
it's called the Southeast Anatolian Project, but everyone knows it by its
Turkish acronym GAP. 22 dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. 19
hydroelectric plants. 7000 kilometres of irrigation channels. All to be
completed in the next decade. |
|
Today,
the gate is finally being lowered on GAP's latest engineering feet. The
Birecik Dam. The blocked waters of the Euphrates River will now start their
slow, yet inevitable rise. Just upstream, the dam's completion triggers a new
sense of urgency. For this is the ancient city of Zeugma, hailed as a second Pompeii. A
treasure virtually unknown outside the archaeological world. It was only last
year, with the dam almost complete, this site started to reveal the full
extent of its riches. Now Turkish and foreign archaeologists work around the
clock to save what they can before the city is lost forever. |
Speaker
2: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
A
local museum now serves as warehouse for this priceless bronze statue of
Mars, and more than 60 mosaics, all retrieved from just one small corner of
the site. Some of the finest examples of this art form ever seen by the
modern world. |
Speaker
2: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Zeugma
was once home to 60.000 people, and an entire Roman Army legion. The team has
unearthed just two villas, what other riches lie here is anyone's guess. |
Speaker
3: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
But
there's hope that half the city may lie somewhere above the water line. The
Turkish Government is now promising to transform the area into an open air
museum. The archaeologists have heard it all before in other sites flooded by
GAP dams. The government professes ignorance of the site's significance, and offers
to help once it's too late. |
Speaker
2: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
As
archaeologists scramble to save the past, the nearby villagers of [Belkis]
attempt to salvage their future. For these farming families, it's their last
day on land their ancestors have tilled for centuries. |
Speaker
4: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
The
Birecik Dam will eventually swamp 40 villages, 35.000 people, mainly ethnic
Kurds, are being forced from their homes. Now, under the shadow of the dam
wall, they remove steel beams and timber, anything that may be of use in
rebuilding their lives elsewhere. |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
They're
assisted by sympathetic army conscripts. Mostly farm boys themselves. The
villagers know that protest is futile, as the military's helping hand would
soon turn to a clenched fist. GAP, they're told, will benefit the state. In
Turkey, individual rights come a poor second. |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
6: |
But
you know, sure, people are, you know, are not very happy, because they have
to leave their places, but the dam [inaudible] always liked that. |
Narrator: |
The
dam comes first. |
Speaker
6: |
If
dam, yeah, if you are building dam, this changing is happening. This is under
construction. |
Narrator: |
There's
not much sympathy at GAP headquarters. This project is about lifting
Southeast Turkey out of poverty. |
Speaker
6: |
These
dams are mainly going to produce energy. |
Narrator: |
Economic
and social development at all costs. A policy ingrained by Kemal Ataturk, founder
of the modern Turkish State, whose unbroken stare dominates every government
office. |
Speaker
6: |
So
this area is going to irrigate 1.1 million hectares, but- |
Narrator: |
1.1
million. |
Speaker
6: |
Million
hectare, but eight on a 15.000 is going to come from Ataturk Dam. So it's a
very big deal really. To [inaudible] project, their level was 47% of Turkey's
average income, and after this project, it is going to be 70% of Turkey's
people's average income. If we hadn't done any projects, it was going to be
25% of Turkey. |
Narrator: |
But
this language of economics is a foreign tongue to people who'll soon be
reduced to living in a mountain side tent. This family says local project
officials stole most of their entitled compensation. For a government that
wants to improve the lot of these people, it's a strange way to win hearts
and minds. |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
6: |
They're
going to compensate, then they're going to take their money, expropriation
money, and we are now are planning specific project, in Halfeti in Birecik
Dam, they are planning a specific project for resettlement of people, and
re-employment of people who used to live in the reservoir area. |
Narrator: |
This
is the new Halfeti. GAP's model town. The residents of another community,
uprooted by the Birecik Dam. Sited on an exposed ridge line, where the baking
summer heat hits the 40s. The beloved riverside orchids of the old town
replaced by fields of stone. These people consider themselves lucky. They
were paid their full compensation, just enough to buy these shoddily-built
homes. Lucky, but not happy. |
Speaker
7: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Much
of Southeast Turkey is still an armed camp. A legacy of the 15 year guerrilla
war between the government and Kurdish separatists, led by Abdullah Ocalan.
Since Ocalan's capture last year, the conflict here has all but ended, and
GAP projects have accelerated, now free from the threat of attack. The people
of this region are ethnic Kurds, an identity never really recognised by the
state. Perhaps that explains why GAP is so nonplussed of the plans to flood
this place, Hasankeyf, regarded as the cradle of Kurdish culture. An ancient
town on the banks of the Tigris River, that has been home to a dozen
civilizations. |
Amine: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Hasankeyf
is protected by two United Nations Heritage Preservation Conventions. Orders
that GAP will ignore in building another dam to provide jobs and economic
security, but Hasankeyf's 5000 Kurdish residents will be evicted. |
|
Point
out to me how high the water is gonna go, when the dam is built. |
Amine: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
6: |
Together
with energy production, also we are going to protect the area from being
destroyed. |
Narrator: |
How
can you do that when you flood the area? How can you also protect it? |
Speaker
6: |
You
can take the pictures. You can, you know, get some documents out of this, and
you can excavate, and you know, get some, if there are, some treasures to the
grounds, and you can just prove that this [inaudible] over here was. |
Narrator: |
So
this is the entrance to the palace. Local Tourism Officer Amine says only the
higher reaches of the town will escape the flooding. The castle ruins, and
some cave dwellings. This is quite literally living history. Amine and his
family occupied one of the 5000 caves of this area, right up until 1970. |
|
And
[inaudible] from the dam. |
Amine: |
Yeah.
Yeah. Water. |
Narrator: |
From
our vantage point, we see a few hardy shepherds who, even today, continue to
live in the homes of their ancestors. Their livestock herded into adjoining
caves. |
Amine: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Alienating
villagers and archaeologists is one thing, but GAP is also making dangerous
enemies of Turkey's downstream neighbours. |
Murat
Cano: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
Human
Rights Lawyer Murat Cano says Turkey's generals now have the power to turn
off the tap, in effect, creating a strategic weapon every bit as menacing as
a nuclear bomb. |
Murat
Cano: |
[foreign
language] |
Narrator: |
500
kilometres downstream from Hasankeyf lies Baghdad, capital of a nation cursed
with a tyrannical leader, economic sanctions, drought, and now
dangerously-low river levels. Once it was called [Masupatemia] the land
between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The Tigris should now be surging
with melted snows from Turkey's mountains, instead, it has dropped to its
lowest level in living memory. |
|
So
this time of year, normally we should be underwater here. |
Speaker
10: |
Yes.
Right. The highest should hit that boundary. That line. |
Narrator: |
Yes.
Up to the house. |
Speaker
10: |
Adjacent
to the house. Yes. |
Narrator: |
Yes. |
Speaker
10: |
And
now, see the difference? This is- |
Narrator: |
So
this is only, what? 30-40% of what used to normally [crosstalk] |
Speaker
10: |
Right.
Around. Yes. I would say around 40% of what it should be, this time of the
year. |
Narrator: |
Iraq
squarely blames the GAP project, as do Turkey's other Arab neighbours. All
are further infuriated by recent news that the Turks are now selling fresh
water to Israel in a deal that will eventually reap 100 million dollars a
year. Every country in the arid Middle East now faces the problem of soaring
population rates, and finite water supplies, and there were growing fears
that the failure to adhere to international water rights may eventually lead
to a regional war. |
Speaker
10: |
I
don't think a country like Turkey, that consider themself as an advanced
country, and part of European community, would allow a disaster like this
happen. This disaster will affect the region, the whole region, not only
Iraq. |
Narrator: |
But
GAP insists that Turkey's neighbours get their fair share. |
Speaker
6: |
As
far as fertility. Turkey has got more fertility in the lands. As far as
waters, water is pouring from Turkey. As far as construction, construction
start in Turkey years ago. As far as our think, I don't think that we are
being unfair. |
Narrator: |
Poseidon,
god of the sea has been rescued from Birecik Dam's rising waters. He is
powerful, violent, and vengeful, yet helpless in stopping those who follow a
modern faith. The creed of economic development. |