DEMONSTRATION TO SAVE HASANKEYF!
MONDAY 21 SEPTEMBER, 12-2PM, OUTSIDE UNESCO’S UK OFFICE, 3 WHITEHALL,
LONDON.
Meet at 12 midday outside Westminster tube to walk to UNESCO together.
On Global Hasankeyf Action Day, activists and social movements will be protesting all over the world to try to save ancient Hasankeyf in north Kurdistan. Let’s protest together against the Ilisu Dam, one of most controversial dams in the world!
The dam is 90% complete and will flood 199 villages, including the 12,000 year old Hasankeyf. There will be massive social, ecological and cultural destruction in north Kurdistan. Up to 80,000 (mostly Kurdish) people will be displaced. The Iraqi marshes will also be destroyed, eradicating thousands of years of culture. The Ilisu dam will also
intensify the ongoing conflicts within and outside of Turkey’s borders, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
The real reasons behind Turkey’s building of the dam are:
– To force Kurdish people out of rural areas, to assimilate them in
cities and to destroy Kurdish culture
– To restrict the movement and effectiveness of the guerillas
– To use water as a weapon against Iraq by cutting the flow of the Tigris.
WE ARE DEMONSTRATING AT UNESCO BECAUSE KURDISH ACTIVISTS HAVE ASKED
UNESCO TO RECOGNISE ANCIENT HASANKEYF AS A WORLD HERITAGE SITE. This
would help to save the area from being destroyed. During our demonstration, we will deliver a letter to the UNESCO office.
Right now, there is a resistance camp at Hasankeyf, and activists are gathering there to march against the dam. Let’s gather in London on Monday in solidarity!
On the 20th and 21st, we are also asking you to Tweet to @UNESCO with the hashtag #Unite4heritage to urge them to save Hasankeyf and the Iraqi marshes.
See you on the streets! Bring banners and make some noise!
Xwedî Derkeve – Defend our culture, land and people!
Peace in Kurdistan 