Foreword

4

SECTION 1:

Displacement

5

1.1

Origins of Kurdish displacement: 1921-1934

5

1.2

The site of the proposed Munzur dams: 1935-1950

8

1.3

The Modern Era

9

SECTION 2:

Political and Hydro-Electric Power: The GAP Dams

15

2.1

Official claims of GAP

15

2.2

"The Oil of the Future": Water and Regional Hegemony

16

2.3

GAP, Ilisu and the Kurds

17

2.4

GAP and Double Displacement

18

SECTION 3:

The Munzur Dams (Tunceli)

21

3.1

Origins and Corruption

21

3.2

Background: the Turkish Energy Market

21

3.3

The Munzur Dams: A Summary

22

3.4

Building the Munzur Dams

23

3.5

Official Claims and Admissions

24

3.6

The Absence of Environmental Impact Assessments

25

3.7

Concerns of the Local Communities

26

3.8

Environmental Concerns and Domestic Environmental law

28

3.9

Local Experience of Previous Dams

29

SECTION 4:

Conclusion and Recommendations

32

Appendices

A

Memo from President Turgut Özal to Prime Minister Derimel, February 1993

33

B

Turkey and Fulfilling the Copenhagen Criteria for Accession to the European Union: Theory or Practice? - Memo from the Kurdish Human Rights Project to the President of the European Union, EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Permanent Representative of the Member States (10 December 2002)

36

C

UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

46

D

Munzur Valley Protection Association (MVPA) publication, Munzur Valley and Dam Issues, including features: 'Dams Planned to be Constructed in Munzur Valley'; 'What will be lost due to the planned dams in the Munzur Valley'; the demands of the Tunceli Solidarity Council; 'Discussion of pros and cons'; and "Munzur Valley National Park" Decree

55