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Kurdish Human Rights Project: This is the legacy website of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, containing reports and news pertaining to human rights issues in the Kurdish Regions for 20 years.

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2006 News
A Year late and a Billion Dollars over Cost: BP's

BP has admitted that its flagship pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey is facing cost overruns of $1 billion - an astonishing 32 per cent over budget. [1]

The cost overruns were revealed at a BTC Company Board of Directors meeting in Baku on 13 April.[1] BP has described the additional cost overruns as “incidental”. Whistleblowers [2] and monitoring non-governmental organisations lay the responsibility elsewhere: citing a mountain of construction failures, inappropriate use of materials and lack of environmental safeguards. [3]

The 1,767km Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is due for completion on May 27th, more than a year behind schedule.

With such major delays and additional costs, BTC Co partner companies are issuing conflicting statements over who is at fault for the widespread construction failures. The Azeri State Oil Fund blamed Turkish sub-contractor BOTAS for working slowly. BOTAS demanded an additional $400 million payment, complaining of additional requirements imposed from above. BP attempted to down-play talk of construction failures, focusing instead on “extra safety testing”.

However, statements from whistle-blowers working for BOTAS as early as 2004 indicated that BTC construction in Turkey was out of control, with consistent failures to implement minimum standards and no oversight by BP.

Further costs were racked up by BP’s choice of an inadequate pipeline coating for welds [4]. As the protective coating began to crack and peel away, the construction contractors AMEC and Spie Petrofac were required to re-apply it to welds. BP refused to award further costs until AMEC and Spie initiated legal proceedings. Yet David Woodward, BP Azerbaijan chairperson, glossed over BP’s operational failures by attributing increased costs to, “commercial issues with contractors.”

To pay for the extra costs, the Azerbaijan government has raided SOFAR, the State Oil Fund - a fund that the public was told would be reserved for social development projects.

Last year, a UK House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee investigation into the Export Credit Guarantees Department criticised the ECGD’s lack of transparency over the project.

Project Lenders, including the Export Credit Guarantee Department, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Royal Bank of Scotland are being urged the Baku Ceyhan Campaign to question why the 32 per cent cost overrun was allowed to happen, and who is accountable.

The Baku Ceyhan Campaign considers this a further attempt to divert attention from BP’s failure to maintain construction standards or environmental best practice.

”BTC’s cost overruns and delays suggest serious management failures by BP – management failures that are similarly apparent in BP’s operations in Alaska and the USA,” comments Nicholas Hildyard from the Corner House. “The financial community should question whether BP’s teflon-coated reputation is deserved.”

Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of Kurdish Human Rights Project, says, “BP has disregarded human rights and environmental standards throughout construction of this project. It’s clear there has been a major lack of oversight and accountability at every stage. Unfortunately, it’s the communities I speak to who will pay.”

Mika Minio-Paluello of PLATFORM said, “In their eagerness to see the profits, BP forced construction ahead at reckless speed, running rough-shod over construction and environmental standards.”

 

For more information, contact: Nicholas Hildyard, The Corner House, ++44 (0) 1258 473795 Mika Minio-Paluello, PLATFORM, ++44 (0) 7766175641

 

Reference:
(1) Construction costs have increased from the planned $2.95 billion to $3.9 billion.
(2) “Exposed: BP, its pipeline and an environmental timebomb”, The Independent, June 26, 2004.
(3) The Baku Ceyhan Campaign is a coalition of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, Friends of the Earth (EWNI), The Corner House and PLATFORM
(4) “BP accused of cover-up in pipeline deal”, The Sunday Times, February 15, 2004. Despite the choice of coating (SPC2888) being re-applied in some cases, it remains not suitable for the BTC pipeline, and does not provide adequate protection from erosion and leaks.

 
Intimidation of Human Rights Defender in Turkey

Diplomatic intervention safeguards Human Rights Watch researcher

 

 A prominent human rights defender has been safely returned to the UK following his arrest by Turkish police yesterday.  He was deported under instructions from the Ministry of Interior this morning.

Jonathan Sugden, the long-term researcher on Turkey for Human Rights Watch's London office, was arrested at his hotel on 12 April 2006.  Authorities say his arrest was for failing to inform them about the activities he was undertaking in the country.  Human Rights Watch (HRW) says authorities were manifestly aware of his presence in the country, as he had made requests to meet with officials in advance of his visit.

Sugden is a British citizen and had been in Bingol in the Kurdish region of east Turkey to meet with officials, non-governmental organisations and affected communities on the subject of internally displaced people (IDPs).  HRW are currently researching the implementation of Law No. 5233 which purports to give domestic redress to some internally displaced people, although it has faced persistent criticism for its shortcomings.

Kurdish Human Rights Project strongly condemns the decision to arrest and deport the researcher, believing it to send a dangerous signal to all other human rights defenders and organisations in the country. 

Kerim Yildiz, executive director, says, “This arrest was intended to intimidate and deter human rights defenders from visiting Turkey .  Human Rights Watch enjoy the relative protection of international awareness.  Sadly, many human rights defenders in Turkey do not.”

 

Contact

Kerim Yildiz or Rochelle Harris at +44 (0) 207 405 3835

 

Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP)

11 Guilford Street

London WC1N 1DH

Tel: +44 (0)207 405-3835

Fax: +44 (0)207 404-9088

www.khrp.org

 
Four killed as tensions rise in Turkey.

Four civilians have been killed and an estimated 500 wounded or detained, as violence spirals between Turkish authorities and civilians in Diyarbakir, Siirt and other Kurdish cities.

The situation in Diyarbakir is most volatile, having now been completely occupied by gendarme and police officers, who called in reinforcements from paramilitary and special commando forces. However, the violence has already spread to most other Kurdish provinces.

Four civilians are known to have been shot dead as Turkish security forces opened fire and used tear gas and truncheons on protestors. These included Abdullah Duran (9-years-old), Tarik Akkaya (20-years-old), Mehmet Isik (20-years-old) and Tarik Atakkaya (23-years-old), all believed to be of Kurdish origin. The shooting of a fifth civilian, Muhlis Ete (16-years-old), left him in critical condition in hospital yesterday.

An unknown number of civilians were taken into detention by police officers following early morning raids on their family homes today. There is grave concern for their welfare, including Nurettin Demirtas and Cihan Deniz, and another 250 detained at protests yesterday. Reports of the use of torture or ill-treatment in custody in fact increased during 2005 compared with previous years. There is also concern for human rights defenders in the region. Osman Baydemir, a well-known defender of Kurdish human rights and Mayor of Diyarbakir, has experienced harassment, during which his driver and car were attacked.

The funerals of four pro-Kurdish guerrilla fighters, which attracted thousands of mourners in Diyarbakir and Siirt, proved to be a flashpoint for the unrest; however tension has increased continuously since 2004.

Kurdish Human Rights Project is concerned at the escalating violence and has requested the international community’s urgent intervention. It is a chilling reminder of the violence which marred the region during the 1980s and 1990s.

 

Contact

Rochelle Harris, PR Officer, Tel: +44 (0)207 7405 3835 

Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP)

11 Guilford Street

London WC1N 1DH

Tel: +44 (0)207 405-3835

Fax: +44 (0)207 404-9088

www.khrp.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

www.khrp.org

 
UK Big Lottery Fund to support Kurdish human rights.

Kurdish Human Rights Project has been awarded a grant of £342,795 by the Big Lottery Fund.[1]  The project funded will support survivors of human rights abuse including torture, internal displacement and censorship in Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The 3-year project aims to ensure that victims of past or current human rights violations get legal redress, and to ultimately reduce the number of people falling victim to human rights abuse in future.  The money will pay for advocacy and casework, including expenses related to bringing cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and for legal work and cases by partners in country.  It will also be spent on running training programmes for local groups, production of various publications, and fact-finding and trial observations missions into, for example, the level of freedom of expression on the ground.  Finally the grant will also fund public awareness raising and communications, including a newsletter and website.

“If he does not talk, shoot him and bring him over here to the other bodies”

At a recent meeting in Turkey to investigate the shootings of a 12-year-old boy and his father by four police officers, a witness told us how the police had intimidated and ill-treated him.  This project will ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations are brought to justice.  We investigate allegations, gather evidence and submit it before international human rights courts.  This project will secure justice and redress for hundreds of victims of human rights abuse including disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture.

KHRP's executive director, Kerim Yildiz, said, “When a child is ill-treated or a newspaper is closed down, we believe the entire culture suffers.  This project will challenge the impunity of human rights abusers and foster a human rights culture in the Kurdish regions.”

 

Contact

Rochelle Harris, Kurdish Human Rights Project, London ,

Tel: +44 (0)207 7405 3835 

email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it    www.khrp.org

[1]   Big Lottery Fund is the joint operating name of the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lotteries Charities Board (which made grants under the name of the Community Fund)

 
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism to Visit Turkey


UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism
The Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Martin Scheinin, will visit Turkey from 16 to 23 February 2006 at the invitation of the Government.

The Special Rapporteur will gather first-hand information about past, current and future initiatives in the area of counterterrorism and how such measures affect the protection and promotion of human rights. He will meet with Government officials, Parliamentarians, the National Security Council, the military, non-governmental organisations, as well as international organisations. He will visit Ankara and the Diyarbakir Province. The Special Rapporteur also plans to meet with individuals affected by counterterrorism measures, as well as suspects detained or charged with offences related to terrorism.

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