Governance of the Ilisu Dam Project

Ilisu is a small village on the River Tigris in the Turkish province of Southeastern Anatolia, close to the boarders of Syria and Iraq. This village has become eponymous for the Ilisu Dam, a hydropower project with a targeted capacity of 1,200 megawatts. At a planned height of 136 meters, the dam would create a reservoir lake with a surface area of more than 300 km2, triggering the displacement of 55-65,000 people. During a field visit to the reservoir area, Ludwig W. Fliesser uncovered that villagers from the affected region had been expropriated without adequate compensation. This turned out to be the last scandal before the official export credit agencies of Austria, Germany and Switzerland withdrew their guarantees for the export loans needed to finance the project. They stated that "the contractually stipulated requirements in the areas of the environment, cultural heritage and resettlement were not sufficiently fulfilled." Environmentalists and human rights activists celebrated a great victory. The Turkish government, though, intended to continue the project on its own. Ludwig W. Fliesser approaches the Ilisu Dam project from a governance perspective, examining the stakeholders and their role in governance as well as the relevant international institutions, before going to the bottom of the dispute between dam promoters and opponents.

Auteur

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Contenu

List of Acronyms

1. Introduction
2. Historical Overview (1954 - 2009)
3. Research Strategy
4. Governance of the Ilisu Project
   Governance as Scienti c Perspective
   Governance in the Age of Globalization
   Governance of the Ilisu Project
5. Stakeholders of the Ilisu Project
   5.1 The Project Affected Persons
   Political Con ict in Southeastern Anatolia
   The Economic Situation in the Project Region
   PAPs' Perception of the Ilisu Project
   Ilisu Village and the Dam Construction Site
   Hasankeyf - Historical Overview
   Income, Public Life and Infrastructure of Hasankeyf
   A Bridge for New Hasankeyf?
   Perceptions of the Inhabitants of Hasankeyf
   Participation of the Project Affected Persons
   5.2 The Project Owner
   The Governance of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (Güney Dogu Anadolu Projesi - GAP)
   State Hydraulic Works (Devlet Su Isleri - DSi)
   The Project Implementation Unit (PIU)
   5.3 The Ilisu Consortium
   The Enmeshment between the Ilisu Consortium, the Project Owner and the Consultant Company ENCON
   5.4 The Export Credit Agencies
   Purpose of the Export Credit Agencies
   Incentives for the Of cial Support of Exports
   Effects of ECAs' Global Competition
   Governance of the Of cial Support for Export Credits on the Austrian National Level
   The Role of Parliament in Decision Making on Of cial Support for Export Credits for the Ilisu Project in Austria
   5.5 The Transnational Advocacy Network against the Ilisu Dam Project
   General Characteristics of Networks
   The Role of Transnational Advocacy Networks in Governance
   The Transnational Campaign against the Ilisu Dam
   Tactics used in the Stop-Ilisu Campaign Reasons for the Success of the Stop-Ilisu Dam Campaign
6. International Institutions affecting the Governance of the Ilisu Project
   Sovereign Statehood: International Institution Par Excellence
   International Laws to Protect Human Rights
   Regulations for the Utilization of International Water Courses
   The Safeguard Policies of the World Bank
   The OECD Common Approaches
   Ad Hoc Regulation: The Agreed Minutes of the Final Assessment Meeting
7. The Ilisu Project Benchmarked Against the World Bank's Safeguard Policies for Resettlement OP / BP 4.12
   The Aim of the WB Policies for Involuntary Resettlement
   ECAs' Appraisal of the Project Benchmarked against OP / BP 4.12
   The Gap between Turkish Expropriation Laws and the Standards of the World Bank
   Implementation Phase of the Ilisu Project: 2007 to 2009
   Expropriation of Lands for "New Hasankeyf"
   Conclusions about Compliance with World Bank Standards
8. Legitimacy of the Ilisu Project
   Some Re ections on Legitimacy and Representative Democracy
   Rational Discourse as a Source of Legitimacy
   The Rationale for the Ilisu Project
   Stakeholders' unequal access to the discourse on the Ilisu Project
   Accountability in the Governance of the Ilisu Project
   Consequences of the Legitimation De cit of the Ilisu Project
9. Conclusions
10. Practical Suggestions to Enhance Participation of the Project Affected People in the Governance of the Southeastern Anatolia Project GAP
11. Recent Development and Future Outlook
    References
    Abstract
    Acknowledgments
    ANNEX I - Map of Hasankeyf showing the Reservoir Area and the Relocation Site for "New Hasankeyf"
    ANNEX II - Photographs from the project area (Ilisu, Hasankeyf, Kesmeköprü)