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Dam on the Euphrates
River in southeastern Turkey, the centerpiece of the Southeastern
Anatolia Project. The Ataturk Dam is the largest in a series
of 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric stations built on the Euphrates
and Tigris rivers in the 1980s and '90s in order
to provide irrigation water and hydroelectricity to arid southeastern
Turkey. Completed in 1990, the Ataturk Dam is one of the world's
largest earth-and-rock fill dams, with an embankment 604
feet (184 m) high and 5,971 feet (1,820 m) long. Water impounded by the
dam is fed to power-generating units at Sanliurfa
that have a capacity of 2,400 megawatts. From there the water is gravity-fed
to vast irrigation networks in the Harran Plain and elsewhere in the vicinity.
GAP OVERVIEW
(The Project that covers all southeastern region) The
Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) is a massive $32 billion public project
to harness the power and potential of the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
and to irrigate the fertile plains that lie between them. When completed in 2010, 21
dams and 17 hydroelectric power plants will produce approximately 22%
of Turkey's projected electricity requirements, equivalent to the entire
national energy consumption in 1988. The Ataturk Dam, the sixth largest rock filled dam in
the world, is the key structure for the development of the Lower Euphrates River region.
Completed in 1993, it presently generates 8.9 billion kWh in electricity and is
responsible for opening more than 180,000 acres of farmland to irrigation in the Harran
plain.
The new irrigation systems created by the GAP will double
Turkey's irrigable farmland in a region which has traditionally suffered from light
rainfall. New irrigation has already brought about a corresponding boom in agricultural
activity. From just one crop per year, in many areas five crops in a two-year cycle have
become or will soon be possible. Crop yields of cotton, wheat, barley, lentils and other
grains have reportedly tripled in the Harran plain as a result of irrigation from the
Ataturk Dam. Land values have risen rapidly. Family income, number of personal vehicles
and number of tractors in the region have nearly tripled in the past eight years. The
range of new products under cultivation is also expanding. Farmers are now experimenting
with new varieties of fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
But the Southeastern Anatolia Project encompasses more than
dams and tunnels. The purpose of the GAP is to eliminate disparities in the levels of
development existing between this region and other regions of Turkey by raising income
levels and living standards of the people who live in Southeastern Turkey. The GAP is a
fully integrated development project designed to create economic and social opportunities
with the full support of the Turkish government.
While dams and irrigation tunnels are being constructed,
the Government of Turkey promotes business development through industrial zones in each of
the provincial capitals in the GAP region. It is training farmers in the most sustainable
and economical land use practices; building airports and highways to ensure sufficient
infrastructure for market development; and building schools and other institutions to
raise the economic and social standards of the six million people who live in the region.
The Government's stated goal is to increase the income level in the region five-fold and
generate employment opportunities for 3.5 million people.
The GAP region consists of eight provinces in Southeastern
Anatolia: Adiyaman, Batman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Siirt, Sanliurfa, Mardin
and Sirnak. Of these, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir are now
particularly poised to welcome U.S. direct foreign investment and expanded trade
opportunities. In addition, the nearby provinces of Adana and Mersin, both outstanding
growing areas with access to major population centers and the Mediterranean Sea, merit
strong consideration for U.S. firms contemplating an investment in the region.
Kahramanmaras, like Gaziantep and Sanliurfa, has exploited new investment in the region to
become an industrial power. Finally, Malatya, a major growing area with solid
infrastructure and a dynamic municipal. government, is ready to welcome new business
activity.
ATATURK DAM INTERNATIONAL SPORTS
FESTIVAL
Ataturk Dam Lake is the symbol of an important geographical
change which opens up new horizons for the rich cultural heritage of the region. Extending
over an area of 817 square kilometers, the dam is called "sea"
by local people. The dam has already started to affect people's daily life. "Ataturk
Dam Water Sports Festival" which has a history of four years is an
important activity expected to enhance the culture of the region in the context of sports.
The festival is organized jointly by the Turkish National
Committee of Olympics, GAP Administration, General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works
and the General Directorate of Youth and Sports. The objective of the festival is to
promote tourism, publicize the versatile character of GAP, integrate socio-economic
development with the advent of sports activities and to imbue the young people of the
region with the spirit Olympics. The first of this annual festival was held on 6-7 October
1995. Then came the second (4-5 October 1996), third (3-4 October 1997), fourth (9-10
October 1998) and the fifth (24-25 September 1999) festival.
The last festival was participated by 396 athletes in the
branches of sailing, rowing-canoeing, swimming and underwater sports. Among these
athletes, there were 22 from Israel and Romania. Also 190 athletes were participated from
Sanliurfa and Adiyaman.
The festival will take place each year in October or
September.
EUPHRATES RIVERS
The Tigris and Euphrates river basin and its drainage
network. The two greatest rivers of Southwest Asia have their sources within 50 miles (80
kilometres) of each other in the mountains of eastern Turkey and travel in a southeasterly
direction through northern Syria and Iraq to the head of the Persian Gulf. The lower
portion of the region that they define, known as Mesopotamia (Greek: "Land Between
the Rivers"), was one of the cradles of civilization. The total length of the
Euphrates (Sumerian: Buranun; Akkadian: Purattu; biblical: Perath; Arabic: Furat; Turkish:
Firat) is about 1,740 miles (2,800 kilometres). The total length of the Tigris (Sumerian:
Idigna; Akkadian: Idiklat; biblical: Hiddekel; Arabic: Dijlah; Turkish: Dicle) is about
1,180 miles (1,890 kilometres). The rivers usually are discussed in three parts: their
upper courses, restricted to the valleys and gorges of eastern Anatolia, at elevations
diminishing from those of their sources at 6,000 to 10,000 feet (1,830 to 3,050 metres)
above sea level; their middle courses, in the uplands of northern Syria and Iraq, at
elevations varying from 1,200 feet at the foot of the so-called Kurdish Escarpment to 170
feet at the head of the delta; and the alluvial plain, which has been created jointly by
the two rivers. At Al-Qurnah the rivers join to form the Shatt al-'Arab
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