The Second Dersim Massacre 1:

Munzur is tried to cease existing

 

Oktay Uçar/Savaş Polat

  Kurdish Observer, 6 March 2001

With 8 dams to be constructed over Munzur Stream, apple of the eye in Dersim a massacre is cooked up. With dams having no economic use, the region will be depopulated, the nature will be damaged and some of the animal and plant species will extinct.
 

Dersim, a witness to a number of massacres in its history, is facing a new massacre. The Turkish state, aiming to depopulate the region completed the construction of 2 dams out of 8 over Munzur and began to construct two of them. A dam over Mercan stream, a branch of Munzur, was completed as the construction of Uzun Cayir Dam is continuing. Konaktepe and Konaktepe II dams in process of construction, and Kalatepe, Bozkaya, Harcik and Akyayik dams are planned.

Everywhere will become swamp

Reminding that in case the project was completed, graver outcomes than 1937-38 Dersim massacre at which 60-70 thousand Kurdistanis were murdered would be witnessed, experts said that the region would be totally depopulated and a number of species would cease to exist. The experts emphasized that with dams the climate in the region would change and caused bacterium and illnesses, adding that the land around Munzur would become swamp.

Demographical structure will be changed

The insistence of the Ecevit-Bahceli-Yilmaz coalition government on the project which has no use to economy and people of the region is considered as completing of the Dersim massacre. According to the demographical projection there must be 800 people living in Dersim, whereas at elections of 2000 the population in Dersim was only 71.500. The experts say that this is the result of the official policy to depopulate the region and evacuate the people forcibly. They add that with the dams this policy is aimed at to be completed.

A number of animal and plant species will become extinct

Extinction of plant and animal species which have a role on making the Munzur Valley a "National Park" will be unavoidable with the dams.

Solution is sun and wind

Dersim vadilerine kurulacak 8 barajin toplam maliyetinin 2 milyar dolar olacaðinin altini çizen uzmanlar, güneþ (solar) enerjisi ile ihtiyacin 60 milyon dolarla karþilanabileceðini kaydediyorlar. Ekonomik verilerin dahi, barajlarda israr edilmesinin siyasi bir tutum olduðunu gösterdiðini, bazi rant çevrelerinin bunda etkili olduðunu vurguluyorlar.

Stressing that the dams will cost 2 billion dolars, the experts say that it can be met by solar energy costing only 60 million dolars. According to the experts, economic data show that the insistence on the dams is a political.

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Added at Kurdforum: 15 March 2001