Istanbul Water Forum and dams

According to sources, Istanbul’s Sütlüce Congress and Culture Center, which is situated at the foot to the Golden Horn, hosted approximately 20,000 people including presidents, ministers, CEOs of international companies and representatives of NGOs. Some important developments related to water issues have been announced to the world from Istanbul. For example, IBM revealed its "smart water management" project to filter arsenic from water during the Water Forum for the first time.

Many exhibitions, conferences and movie screenings were also held within the framework of the forum. The "Water for Everyone" exhibition of the Museum of Science and Industry in the French capital city of Paris is on display abroad for the first time.

French Environment Minister Chantal Jouanno opened the exhibition which is being held at Santralistanbul thanks to the contributions of Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association, or TÜSİAD, and Natural Life Protection Association.

When considering NGO protests against the commercialization of water, nonsense arrests and the "Alternative Water Forum", which started yesterday, the 5th World Water Forum is an event of which there are many things to say.

As I stressed before, the Turkish media’s inadequate interest in the forum can be associated with its focus on upcoming local elections. Well, which aspects of the 5th World Water Forum drew foreign press’ attention? The answer to this question is very interesting. Because, my foreign colleagues, who attended the forum, are mostly interested in the "dams" issue.

Where is the center of attention?

"Dams" with their advantages and disadvantages are one of the world’s much debated issues. According to the "Water Report" which was revealed in Istanbul by the U.N. World Water Assessment Programme, dams have detrimental effects on the environment and social structure though they are required to prevent drought.

Another development related to dams was experienced in "Istanbul Water Courts" which launched through civilian initiative during the water forum. In the court organized by the German Heinrich Böll Foundation and Latin American Water Court, authorities, who designed the Ilısu dam project which will submerge the historical town of Hasankeyf, the Karakaya dam project for Munzur Valley and Yusufeli dam project over Çoruh River, were in the dock.

Turkey representative of Heinrich Böll Foundation Ulrike Dufner uttered these words which I liked so much: "Turkish governments have dam fetishism." It seems that "dam fetishism" also attracted my foreign collegues’ attention because New York Times published a long article over Ilısu Dam which is planned to be constructed in Hasankeyf. New York Times, which wrote that Turkish pop star Tarkan also opposes the Ilısu Dam, quoted the words of an Australian NGO representative. "I think this dam will never be constructed," the representative said.

France’s Le Monde daily touched upon dams in the Southeast and wrote a headline "Dams of Turkey, Syria and Iraq Disagreement" I think Turkish authorities, who readied for the water forum in Istanbul for months, are not content with the fact that the forum took place with mostly foreign press mostly with these issues.

Prime Minister Erdoğan laid the foundation of the Ilısu Dam in 2006. The project’s looming large in foreign media must be a bad surprise for the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government which is determined to construct the dam despite the objections of NGOs and disruptions in terms of foreign credits.