Tigris dam project stirs hopes, fears in Turkey

HASANKEYF, Turkey, Apr 28 (Reuters) For the people of Hasankeyf, this sleepy, once-mighty town on the banks of the River Tigris is a historic treasure: for those who want to build a massive dam here, it is a backwater in need of development.

''We have to stop the dam, our town will be destroyed,'' said Hasankeyf's mayor, Abdulvahap Kusen, a staunch opponent of the Ilisu dam project, which would swallow up more than 80 villages and hamlets by the time of its planned completion in 2013.

''Our valley is part of ancient Mesopotamia, where human history began,'' he said. ''When you visit our caves, you get a sense of how people lived millennia ago.'' In the sun-baked valley, the minaret of a 14th century mosque soars above a cluster of cottages and tombs. Locals say the waters will rise to the mosque's speakers if the dam -- set to be Turkey's second biggest -- goes ahead.

Only the bleating of goats on the steep hillsides and the Muslim call to prayer disturb the midday silence. A stork flaps lazily across an azure sky. A falcon swoops.

But Hasankeyf's tranquility belies a long history of struggle between rival empires -- and more recently between sharply differing visions of what Turkey's priorities should be.

Opponents of the dam project say the valley's unique archaeological heritage that includes Sumerian, Roman and Ottoman monuments must be preserved, and townspeople allowed to continue their ancient, unhurried way of life.

In a last desperate effort to halt a project due to start at the end of May, they have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in the distant French city of Strasbourg. They are also urging foreign creditors to shun the project.

The dam's supporters stress the need to regenerate the poor, southeastern region, create jobs, build modern infrastructure and provide much-needed energy for Turkey's booming economy.

OPEN-AIR MUSEUM Uncertainty over the dam project first mooted in the 1980s, begun, abandoned, now resumed has scared away much-needed investment over the years, Hasankeyf's mayor said.

''This is a natural open-air museum. We could make lots of money, but nobody wants to build hotels or restaurants because they don't know what is going to happen,'' said Kusen.

Nearly 1,000 km away in the Turkish capital Ankara, things are seen very differently.

''This project will save Hasankeyf, not destroy it,'' said Yunus Bayraktar, coordinator of the Ilisu dam and hydroelectric power plant project in a consortium led by his company Nurol, one of Turkey's major construction firms.

Bayraktar says the 1.2 billion euro project will create 80,000 jobs and lure tens of thousands of tourists to an area hit hard by years of Kurdish rebel conflict.

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