Home CEWAP Mark Thomas 18:30 Club GM Food Car Cats Links		Stop the Ilisu Dam
		Go to www.ilisu.org.uk now and help stop the ECGD fund the Ilisu Dam project in Turkey.  Mark would like you to help out with this, so please help now. HOT NEWS!!! Balfour Beatty have pulled out of the Ilisu Dam project! Guess there won't be any ECGD funding then. Mark is over the moon as is everyone else who was involved with the project. Nice one! THE ILISU DAM CAMPAIGN WAS SET UP BY THE KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT, THE CORNERHOUSE, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AND MARK THOMAS AND THEY NEED *YOUR* HELP.

£1 per week helps save the homes of 25,000 Kurds

$200 million of your money to help the UK construction giant Balfour Beatty throw 25,000 Kurds out of their homes? Is this really how you want your taxes to be used? Seven multinationals and eight governments are planning to build the llisu dam in south-east Turkey. Britain's New Labour Government is a key player. Human Rights: The dam will force 25,000 people from their homes. Another 11,000 people will lose their farmlands and livelihoods. Most of them are ethnic Kurds. Many see the project as part of a wider strategy of ethnic cleansing. There has been no agreed resettlement plan and minimal consultation with the people. The area around the Ilisu dam has been devastated by 16 years of armed conflict between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Turkish State — a regime armed by the UK, amongst others. More than 30,000 people have been killed and 3 million displaced. Despite the 1 September 1999 PKK decision to pursue a peaceful political solution to the as yet unresolved Kurdish question, many parts of the region remain a war zone.

What's wrong with this dam?

CULTURAL DESECRATION: The dam will flood the medieval town of Hasankeyf, a treasure trove of archeological remains dating back 10,000 years and the historical jewel in the crown of Kurdish culture. Imagine Turkey — or any other country — backing a UK government plan to flood Stonehenge? Hasankeyf's treasures will be lost forever. ENVIRONMENT: The dam will destroy the surrounding environment. With other planned dams, it will also control 50% of the downstream flow of the river Tigris into Syria and Iraq. Already analysts are stating that the future wars in the area could be fought over water. ACT NOW! Under the New Labour Government, Britain's Export Credit Guarantee Department plans to underwrite Balfour Beatty's work on the dam, using $200 million of taxpayers' money. Conditional approval has already been given. A final decision is due in the next few months. The need to act now is urgent!

What you can do to help.

The llisu Dam Campaign works to stop British involvement in the dam and to highlight the wider policy implications for Britain's ethical foreign policy, sustainable development and for peace and security in the region. WITH YOUR HELP WE REALLY CAN WIN! Please join the llisu Quid scheme. Money is urgently needed to finance the campaign. You can help fund our efforts simply and cheaply. The llisu Quid direct debit form will deduct £1 per week (£4 per month) from your account and put it in ours. When the campaign is over the direct debit arrangement ceases. Please fill in the Direct Debit form overleaf and return it to the campaign. Equally important: get active! Join our postcard campaign, arrange a speaker meeting, and send us your contact details so we can let you know of upcoming events. Contact the Campaign Office for details: Box 210, 266 Banbury Road, Oxford 0X2 7DL; email:ilisu@gn.apc.org web:www.ilisu.org.uk