Submerging Kurdish History in Turkey: A Case Study of the Ilisu Dam

The South-eastern Anatolia Project (Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi, GAP) is the largest regional development project in Turkey, involving the construction of twenty-two dams and nineteen hydroelectric power plants along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins. Particularly notable is the Ilisu Dam, the last major dam built under GAP. Although the Turkish state has presented the dam as a potent source of renewable energy and job growth, it has also faced criticism for its devastating impact on the local Kurdish population. Using the Ilisu Dam as a case study, this paper examines the relationship between Turkey's water development projects and the long-standing Turkish-Kurdish conflict. I used three main research methods: (1) conducting a qualitative literature review of the South eastern Anatolia Project, (2) analyzing promotional government campaigns of the Ilisu Dam, and (3) examining data and information presented by international nongovernmental organizations. This paper concludes that while the Ilisu Dam has reduced Turkey's reliance on energy imports and stimulated economic growth, it also reflects the states' historical attempts to assimilate ethnic Kurds by inundating historical sites and forcing resettlement into cities. Additionally, this paper suggests that these assimilationist and repressive practices have not diminished Kurdish political aspirations. Instead, Kurdish communities have perceived the project as a cultural cleansing of their history, which has fuelled international opposition and cast critical light on Turkey's developmental projects.