Turkey: displacement of a historic hammam threatened with engulfment

In a spectacular, millimetre-long operation, the Turkish authorities moved a historic 1,500-tonne hammam to prevent it from being submerged by water as part of a controversial dam project.

The move of the hammam from Artuklu, built more than 650 years ago in the locality of Hasankeyf (south-east), on the banks of the Tigris, mobilized extraordinary means.

Loaded on a custom-made rolling platform, the stone mastodon was transported on a wide road built especially for the occasion. The convoy took several hours to cover the two kilometres to its destination.

This operation is part of an effort to preserve the heritage in the face of the Ilisu dam project, which is located downstream and will eventually engulf Hasankeyf.

The dam is part of the Southeast Anatolia Project, a comprehensive land use plan to improve energy supplies to the region.

To preserve some of the works of Hasankeyf, a town with many remains from Roman, Byzantine, pre-Ottoman and Ottoman times, the authorities have created a « cultural park » near the town.

That’s where the hammam was stored. A tomb dating from the 15th century and weighing more than 1,100 tons had already been moved there.

« Six other books (will join them). Hasankeyf will truly preserve its historical identity, and the new Hasankeyf will be a tourist pearl, » said Batman provincial governor Ahmet Deniz, quoted by the state news agency Anadolu.

But local activists fear that the unique character of the place will be lost forever as the waters rise.

A sensitive issue in Turkey, the construction of the dam is also a source of tension with neighbouring Iraq, fed downstream by the Tigris in a region where control of the water resource is crucial.

Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Fatih Yildiz announced that Turkey was suspending the water retention process for a little less than a month after complaints from Iraq.