Fehime Ozmen (Fama) at a Assyrian Christian community. "I'm now more than 2 weeks in Hasankeyf. Right now the people here are fasting because of Ramazan. That means they neither drink nor eat nor smoke from sunrise to sunset for a whole month and on days above 46 degrees C (120 degrees F)".
Children at Hasenkeyf - concerned for their future. "Hasankeyf seems very abandoned because on the one hand only very few people still live here (3000 people left); ...the way to the castle and restaurants by the river are closed, because several weeks ago a rock fell down from the cliffs. Since then its FORBIDDEN to travel to the castle or go to the restaurant (see pictures of us sitting with our feet in the river and in the castle at said FORBIDDEN locations). This prohibition is very difficult for the people in Hasankeyf, because of this closing down the tourists don't come and the people can't make an income. For these reasons the people feel leached out and left alone here".
Family members in Cizre.
Hama in Hasenkeyf with feet in the Tigris River at the FORBIDDEN restaurant, smiling at Michelle her friend and drinking tea. "For more than 50 years the people of Hasenkeyf have had to deal with the Ilusu dam project. Many NGOs and journalists come always with the promise to help, but they always come and go without changing something for continuance. And if someone always listens to the same promises year by year but nothing gets changed, they will get used to false promises and lose all hopes and belief. It seems to me that the people live on stagnation, they have neither hope nor hope for the future. To prevent the construction of the Ilusu Dam the resistance must come from the people who live here but they have no more strength. They are waiting for the Ilusu Dam to be built so that the years of ".
The Turkish government makes the people empty promises. One of their arguments is that the poople in the region will benefit from energy and water production from Ilusu Dam. But it has been shown already with the dams on the Euphrates River, that nothing has come from the energy and water produced by the dam to the people of the south-eastern Anatolian region of Turkey; instead, resources flow to western Turkey in the populated urban areas. Nothing good has come to the people living in the region, especially the poor people. The population lives with dry and salty soil, or their homes and fields and mosques flooded under reservoirs behind dams. The habitat of species alive in the river will gradually be destroyed. This is a very lousy policy from the Turkish government who try to seek the approval of a majority of the Kurdish population. The whole of Kurdistan lives in backwardness and it looks like a world from a century ago. The Turkish state is not willing to invest here economically nor socially. The government is trying to leach out the region completely. To prevent this destruction, the Turkish government must perceive that it's hurt only himself with this approach. I believe it will take much time until they realize this, unfortunately."
Michelle’s Note: I met Fama in Turkey, and she provided translations and information for me during our travels on the Tigris Rivers. Fama speaks Kurdish, Turkish, some Arabic, German and English. Her Kurdish family moved from SE Turkey to Germany to find better employment, quality of life and freedom from persecution.
ReplyDelete“I´m now more than 2 weeks in Hasankeyf. Right now the people here are fasting because of Ramazan. That means they neither drink nor eat from sunrise to sunset for a whole month and on degrees about 46 Celsius (close to 120 degrees F) Hasankeyf seems very abandoned because on the one hand only very few people still live here (3000) and on the other hand the way to the castle and to the restaurants at the river are closed, because several weeks ago a rock fell down and since then its forbidden to cross this both ways. This prohibition is very difficult for the people in Hasankeyf, because of this closing down the tourists don’t come a lot and by the closing the restaurants they are denied a source of income. For this reason the people feel leached out and left alone here”.
“For more than 50 years they have to do deal with the dam project. Many NGOs and journalist come always with the promise to help, but they always come and go without changing something for continuance. And if someone always listen to the same promises year by year but nothing get changed this one will get used to it and lose all believes and hopes. It’s seems to me that the people live on stagnation, they have neither hope nor hope for the future. To prevent the construction of the Ilisu dam the resistance must come from the people who live here but they have no more strength. They are waiting that the dam is built so that the years of back and forth get finally to an end. It is very difficult to talk with people who have lost hope. The Turkish government makes the people empty promises. One of their arguments is that especially the population of the region will benefit from the energy and water production of the dam”.
“But it has been shown already with the dams on the Euphrates River, that nothing has come from the energy and water extraction to the population of the southeast of Turkey, but instead everything flows to the west of Turkey. The population lives with dry and salty soil and the habitat of the species alive in the river will be destroyed gradually. This is a very lousy policy from the Turkish government who try to seeking the majority Kurdish population in southeastern turkey to pass. The whole southeast (Kurdistan) lives in very backwardness and its looks like a world from a century ago. The Turkish state is not willing to invest here either economically nor socially. Instead, the government is trying to leach out the whole region completely. To prevent this the Turkish government must perceive that they are hurting themselves with this approach. But I believe it will take much more time till then, unfortunately”.