Enviros win Hasankeyf dam round at high court
Güncelleme Tarihi:
ANKARA - The Council of State has proved to be yet another obstacle for the promoters of the Ilısu Dam with its ruling that the State Waterworks Authority, or DSİ, is not entitled to make decisions on the issue.
Environmentalists welcomed the ruling. The dam would result in the historic town of Hasankeyf being submerged. The Council of State also revoked the authority given to the DSİ to decide which artifacts of Hasankeyf would be left underwater.
The lawsuit was brought by the Archaeologists’ Foundation, the History Foundation of Turkey, the Architect’s Chamber of the Turkish Union of Engineers’ and Architects’ Chambers, the İzmir Chamber of Tourism Guides and the Modern Lawyers’ Foundation. The decision said construction cannot be undertaken at sites that are under protection.
It is also indicated that the authority of how the resources are to be protected belongs to the protection boards of the area.
That authority had been partly transferred to DSİ in the case of the Ilısu Dam. DSİ was supposed to determine the areas where construction was unavoidable and the state waterworks was to decide which artifacts of Hasankeyf were to be drowned.
With its ruling, the sixth department of the Council of State has partly canceled the resolution passed Oct. 27, 2006.