(Zurich, Berlin, Vienna – 14.3.2012) On the occasion of today’s International Day of Action for Rivers an international coalition of environmental and human rights organisations launches a petition to UNESCO to become active in protecting potential World Heritage Sites which are under threat due to the construction of the Ilisu Dam in Turkey. For the first time initiatives from Turkey, Iraq and Iran engage jointly in the protection of their natural and cultural heritage.

October, 15th 2010. From October 11th until next Sunday, October 17th a
protest camp has been set up on the banks of the Tigris river in the
antique town of Hasankeyf in South-Eastern Turkey. Approximately 150
people, mostly from the surrounding region, come to the camp every day.

Berlin, 7.7.2009 – The governments of Germany, Austria and Switzerland today officially announced their withdrawal from the Ilisu project on the Tigris river in Turkey. Turkey’s efforts to build the controversial dam have thus failed for the second time. Environmental and human rights organisations have welcomed the decision as a breakthrough in their campaign to stop the project and to push for higher standards for export guarantees.


Stop Ilisu Campaign welcomes unprecedented step

(Berlin, Vienna, Zurich – June 22, 2009) Germany, Austria and Switzerland will withdraw their export credit guarantees for the highly controversial Ilisu dam project in Turkey by July 6th, as the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau Online reported on Friday. This is an unprecedented step in the history of export finance. Environmental and human rights organisations had repeatedly pointed out that Turkey violated conditions tied to the guarantees and the environmental, social, cultural and geopolitical problems remained unsolved.