The bridge piers of the Silk Road will also be drowned in the reservoir. © Ulrich Eichelmann

News from Ilisu: Facing eviction, merchants decry Turkey dam project

After decades of construction, the Ilisu dam is almost completed, Hasankeyf is nearing its inundation. Residents of this ancient settlement who are ineligible for relocation have nowhere to go. Merchants of the ancient Silk Road trading post have received eviction notices.

"If you destroy all this, you are in no way better than the Taliban in Bamiyan, where they destroyed the Buddha statues a few years ago," Eichelmann said. "It's a similar act of idiocy. It's crazy."

Yet, Vienna-based Andritz Hydro, the company overseeing the construction of the dam, is trying to justify their involvement.

Read more in this DW article