Hasankeyf [on the banks of the Tigris River in Turkey] is thought to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth, dating as far back as 12,000 years and containing thousands of caves, churches and tombs.
But this jewel of human history will soon be lost; most of the settlement is about to be flooded as part of the highly controversial Ilisu dam project.
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On its completion it will be the fourth biggest dam in Turkey and is predicted to generate 4,200 gigawatts of electricity annually, but at a huge cost.
The scheme will mean the flooding of 199 settlements in the region, thousands of human-made caves and hundreds of historical and religious sites. Campaigners warn that close to 80,000 people will be displaced.
They also warn of terrible damage to the natural environment, saying biodiversity will suffer, and that numerous vulnerable and endangered species are threatened by the construction of the dam.
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[A]long the mountainside facing the town [there is] a cave clearly marked with an engraved cross, indicating an ancient church.
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It is unknown what year the church dates back to. Only 10% of the area has been explored by archaeologists.
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Under the church is a tomb where piles of human bones have surfaced.
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Hasankeyf has been part of many different cultures in its long history, including ancient Mesopotamia, Byzantium, Arab empires and the Ottoman empire, but Hakan Ozoglu, a history professor at the University of Central Florida, said the settlement predates all these civilisations.
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Only eight historical monuments – including a tower from what was said to be the oldest university in the world, half of an old Roman gate to the city and a women’s hamam dating to around 1400 – have been saved from Hasankeyf. The pieces were moved 3km away and now stand on a vast plain.
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“I cannot see very many other places on Earth that deserve [more] to be on the list of Unesco’s protected sites,” Ozoglu said.
Ayhan shook his head when Unesco was mentioned – the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive had already applied unsuccessfully for the settlement to be listed.
“Unesco said the culture ministry has to apply for it,” Ayhan said. “We wrote to the ministry but no answer … It’s their duty but they didn’t do anything.” The Turkish ministry of culture and tourism would not comment.
A spokesperson at the ministry of energy and natural resources was also contacted. “Why do you want to talk about Hasankeyf when we have so many other projects?” was their only comment.
The Turkish authorities’ crackdown on protests has also hindered Hasankeyf residents’fight to stop the dam.
“If we protest, they take us to prisons,” Ayhan said.
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The government has built a “new Hasankeyf” for 700 households, 3km away from historical Hasankeyf, to relocate residents before 8 October. But Eyup Agalday, 27, said he and his wife were not offered their own home in the new settlement, as the government has a cutoff for those married after 2014. “I will have to live with my parents again– the whole family of 10 members will be in the one house,” he said.
Agalday, like his ancestors, is a shepherd, and currently lives in in one of Hasankeyf’s many caves. He will not be allowed to take his animals to the new village and has started selling his goats.
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Sitting under the shade of bountiful grapevines on the opposite side of the river, Hediye Tapkan, 38, said she had no idea where her family, including five young children, will go. “We like our place, we make our bread here, we have lots of grapes and figs which sometimes we sell, our lands are productive,” she said.
Tapkan and her family have also not been offered a replacement home, even though they were allegedly forced to sell some of their land – at 900 Turkish lira for 1 dunum, or £125 for 1,000 sq metres – for the construction of the new village.
Guardian
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