Turkey Will Flood 10,000 Year Old City

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www.smithsonianmag.com

Health Editor’s Note: For crying out loud, people still live here….Carol

Turkey Is Moving Forward With Plans to Flood a 10,000-Year-Old City
by Brigit Katz Smithsonian.com

The ancient city of Hasankeyf, which sits on the banks of the Tigris River in southeastern Turkey, is believed to be one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited settlements, with a human history stretching back some 10,000 years. Neolithic peoples carved caves into cliff sides, and Hasankeyf’s modern inhabitants continue to live in those dwellings today. Romans, Byzantines, Mongols and Arabs have all left their mark on the city. But within the next few weeks, this precious historic site could disappear forever, submerged under water as part of a controversial dam project.

Plans for the Ilusi dam have been in the works for decades—as have bitter efforts to put a stop to it. According to Pinar Sevinclidir of CBS News, the project was first devised in the 1950s, but due to legal battles, only broke ground in 2006. The dam is slated to irrigate the surrounding area and fuel a power plant, which will in turn generate 4,200 gigawatts of electricity for Turkey each year—“similar in capacity to a small nuclear plant,” Sevinclidir notes.



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3 COMMENTS

  1. don’t know why ppl are always so hung up on stuff like this. yes, it’s sad when a piece of your past is gone but sometimes it’s better to look to the future. Honestly there’s nothing to be gained from keeping the town other than its historicity. The city is outdated and not suited for the modern world anyways. making a dam will provide for the future.

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