A huge damn. Its literally like well the earth and subdue it in the sense of the wreckage of the carport. Ference hotel this called paradise garden when we visited him in january 2020 it was a paradise in ruins the route was dismantling the prefab sections of his hotel in the hope of rebuilding them elsewhere because here the river tigris was rising fast if left he said the building would be under water within a few days. Or pulled over of course when i think about the future of my business i feel very pessimistic. A big part of me just wants to withdraw thats how i feel right now. My normal willpower and energy to do things has gone. Was witnessing the destruction of his hometown. The ancient town his son case was in the region once known as mesopotamia considered the cradle of civilization in just a few months most of the town in the tigris valley would be a sunken treasure like a real life atlantis residents were not consulted about the controversial down beforehand. Rivers of water is right there its been raining and now we have snow to. The roads dogs machel into cairo grew up in paradise garden they seemed confused about what was happening to their home in the booth. For 12 years fear outs hotel was open for tourists. The sun case and the surrounding land of ancient mesopotamia was inhabited for millenia. Numerous advanced civilizations left their mark on it this true many travelers who passed through turkeys southeast to her son cave and many came to fear paradise garden. This was filmed in the summer of 2018 when fear rats hotels still look like its name. He already knew then that his garden of eden would soon be lost. But he couldnt bring himself to. Leave it. To suit. Whos. You by the start of 2020 it had become a sad reality. Here at says a sign cave in the tigris valley should have been declared a World Heritage site. According to a study that town fulfilled 9 of the 10 unesco World Heritage criteria. It seemed predestined for the recognition. But the government in ankara had no interest in applying. Back in the mid 1990 s. The town was as yet untouched by archaeologists who are in chanted with the sun case this mausoleum was built by a turkish ruler to his son after he was killed in battle in 473. The mosque and minaret on the banks of the tigris reportedly date back to 1409 researches found artifacts in the ground suggesting that the area was home to a number of different civilizations people are believed to have inhabited the tigris valley as far back as 12000 years ago. Or even in modern times many residents of hassan case lift from farming fishing and traditional handicrafts. The town was famous for its neolithic caves carved into the rocks along the riverbank. Families lived in these. Caves until the 1960 s. When most spaced into houses they built for themselves. The cliffs became a historical site and were placed under preservation order in the 1980 s. But some families continued to stay in the caves right up until the 1990 s. As they gave welcome response from the hot sun must stop. No one knows how many generations found refuge in these rocks from the rain sodden heat and cold. But the fate of the caves was decided when it became clear that they could pose a risk to the states plans to flood hundreds of square kilometers of land. Some of the caves go deep into the rock the concern was that if the rising river tigris flooded them the whole cliff side could collapse so 2 years the spent filling the caves with deborah and sealing them off with a massive stone wall. A radical intervention in nature. The idea of building a dam on the tigris is nothing new politicians in faraway and career 1st considered it decades ago the river euphrates has a number of dams as do many of the other rivers that flow from the mountains in eastern turkey heading south but none of these projects destroyed so much land in one fell swoop as the aliso dam on the river tigris. Through. The. Iranians if they are trying are sunk you can see how some cases back their position and you can already see the beginning of the reservoir here. That isnt a river. Its the reservoirs. I thought it was he was literally like i feel the earth and subdue it in the sense of breaking up toward the end of this at this and thats when you just look at it all around everythings been turned upside down blocked off and. Its just its just so ticking through it. Is a conservationist whos been coming to his sank a for more than 15 years hes stunned by what its become for the turkish government commissioned a huge damage around 60 kilometers down with a its still unclear what long term impact this project will have on nature here on local residents. Is that this is a when you 1st look at this is it. The mice in the trees you see a way most people would think nice. I would this is that sacred but actually its a crime. I thought when you think about what the water has covered. Right here one of humanitys most historic settlements. Haasan caves his now submerged lives here. You can just see a few caves poking out of the top but thats all thats left you directly into the central caves and also the architectural structures like the old bridge pillars that were around a 1000 years old are gone. Theres a boat that was the bridge for the silk road the original road as of. This graveyard would be the next victim to go under. Local residents came to see it one more time before it was engulfed by the reservoir is being. Seen this makes our soldiers burn i come from his son came we had a house and garden here and now its all gone our youth has been lost but im. Sure theyre going to be. The one grave there belongs to my father the other to my mother my brothers and i discussed it and decided to leave the greats here a little banished of the duty of. Man met surtax to check who spent a part of his life in germany. Should such a shame. Theyre sorry its more than a shame its a crime against humanity for pressure. On the men tried i can help you right there since being in turkey ive shown down my language its a crime yes a crime you can say that. There was opposition to it in turkey but it didnt change anything unfortunately. I think that was the start of this whole thora tarion regime it started with nature. And the. Man was a key figure in mounting resistance to the dam. In 2008 he led to the demand that Hampson Foundation the german conservation great if you one time you got turkish cup saying that i can to visit husain cave and draw attention to the towns plight he also organized a number of other. Test initiatives. German Green Party PoliticiansChambliss Timea and inflate also for to save this unique Cultural Landscape there were repeated rallies and protests against the dam in 2018 the police used Water Cannons to break up one of the last launch protests and made me morris arrests. Last spring song case downfall was drawing visitors residents from the surrounding region came to the town at the weekend to see the rising water level by mid march when the spring was just beginning the waters had risen considerably the impounded river was barely flowing anymore causing garbage and reeds to build up. The bridge that link test case with the drillings on the other side of the tigris was already submerged. Changed in. A Television Broadcast of from Northern Iraq reported live from the scene. One resident told the reporter how he was born in one of the caves in her son cave. Ridge when i hand described the dam project as a massacre he said he didnt believe the state was that bothered about producing electricity and that it was more about driving the people away from here. For almost 30. Their goal is to clear all the towns in this northern part of mesopotamia. Or theyre not interested in producing energy they could do that with wind or solar power. And if they would restore the Historic Monuments for the Tourism Industry they could earn 10 times what theyre getting all. This area is also one of the most fertile regions in the world. They could earn money from that too. But they are determined to clear this area. But my impression increasingly is that this is all driven by security concerns in the. Bridge and i hand suspicions are not unfounded. In 2006 wretched tired attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the lisa dam he was Prime Minister at the time. From the very start it was clear the dam was about more than elektra city the decision to build it was made by the National Security council which includes the Turkish Military members of the government admitted that the dam which is 130 meters high and 1. 7 kilometers long was designed in part as a safeguard against the band could just stand Workers Party or p k k a designated terrorist. This reservoir that formed as a result of the dam cuts off routes used by p. K. K. Militants. For decades the kurdish fighters have come from iraq crossing the mountains into turkey before there were points where the tigris the shallow enough for them to cross easily allowing them to launch attacks on turkish soil in their long running battle with ankara. The white reservoir is designed to prevent that which held 199. 00 towns and villages have had to be fully or partly evacuated for the cause more than 60000. 00 people have lost their homes. And its not just the tigris thats affected the year now sue and boateng rivers that flow into the tigris from the north have also expanded making them almost impossible for p. K. K. Fighters to cross. While we were there turkish fighter jets passed over her son case i thank her a spite against the p. K. K. Has shaped life in this area for decades. You. This dream is 60 years old according to firat he says he often rested in its shade and ate the walnuts it provided. Would be so green like his hometown his son caves the trees have to die before its time. For the creatures come into the world live and then have to die. But just imagine you speak to a friend and half an hour later you hear that hes been killed in an accident. You hardly know how to get over it theres nothing you can do to change it but you cant point believe it either. And then ellen than you know more than. Ference says the state never consulted the residents of her son cave or the many other towns and villages affected but thats how its always been in turkey se he says theyve always had to give way when the state turned up and tolerate the arbitrary decisions made by ankara was. More plausible doesnt cave has been under preservation order for 35 years because of its historical significance since then we havent been allowed to erect even a garden shed some families had 10 People Living in one house because it was forbidden to put up any New Buildings and now the same people who didnt allow us to build have decided to destroy the lot and cover it with water to lift your. Spirits neighbors also cut down their trees before they left would just highly sought after in this impoverished region most of the residents of her son cave have tried to take a pragmatic approach to the situation. And many are of arab or kurdish descent they are in the minority in turkey and have learned to live with the poor treatment they sometimes experience at the hands of the state. By this point all the bridges the nearly all access roads to her son caves were underwater. As dunc a 1st left is a ghost town the residents had taken anything that could still be used from their homes Windows Doors and steal. The controversial nature of the dam prompted the governments of germany switzerland and austria to withdraw credit guarantees for the project in 2009 nearly all companies from those countries subsequently quit but even that didnt change the projects course the turkish government funded the dam by itself undeterred by the opposition. To you as if it does not before we have to i still think its right to stand up against projects like these and to do something. Even though it was always clear to me that there was a high probability our attempts to stop this would fail. When you totally commit yourself to a cause like this. You have to be prepared to lose ive often asked myself whether i could have done something differently curtain something that might have achieved a different result i guess its me but even today i have no real answer to that kind of to go on for. Another class ok thats what it looked like the minaret here is gone. These where the old bridge pillars that were once part of the silk road theyre over 1100 years old the minarets gone up here there was a storks nest this. Thinks that back in the 1950 s. When turkish engineers 1st considered building a dam hay at the gold was no doubts to produce electricity but today in the age of wind and solar power its no longer a convincing argument he believes there are more wide reaching geo Strategic Interests at stake with the Legal Council easy to dam allows the turkish authorities to control the water and to decide when and how much to let iraq out or and ive often heard of that argument in the media and also from government representatives. They say iraq has the oil but we have the water lets see who lasts longer richard. Palace security strength with all these factors seemingly involved the turkish government sees the project as a huge success the residents of his son caves are at the very least divided in their opinion. Theyve been relocated to the other side of the tigris river to knew his son caves built from scratch in record time. But the turkish state didnt want to surrender everything to the floodwaters some of the towns Historic Monuments were transported to the other side of the tigris they were set up in a museum park on the edge of new hassan caves. The turkish government says this way tourists can still come and admire some of the towns cultural treasures. Observers said it looked as if her son caves organs were extracted and trying. Planted the ancient structures made it to their new home intact but the soul of the old town was lost. Not everyone can afford a house in the new town residents received compensation for the loss of their homes and access to low interest loans but they all had to pay for their new house is long established his son kaye families who lived in rented accommodation were entitled to a house but they too had to buy it single people had no right to a home in the new town. Both his son case was colorful and oriental in keeping with its surroundings whether that will ever be true of new his son case is doubtful. It was full when the state began pushing residents to move applying subtle pressure after the Summer Holidays the school in old has sunk a free maintenon expectedly shot without any prior warning parents were told their children would have to go to school a new hassan cave so they relocated bringing not only their possessions but also countless bottles of water. Or you would. Walk. To the local user we had no choice the children have to go to school but theres no Running Water here so we brought water with us every 2nd or 3rd day we have to fetch water. Almost forces the kitchen really. Well 1st released come in and take a look we had everything painted. That was formerly the water boiler is fitted outside. We had the molding stone ourselves up but its the shyness it. Was the finish there will be 4 of us living here. I could go either the ship the average haasan kaye family has 6 to 7 people. All so were a small household which. Isnt particularly guy in this one. Bullishness is that there is no supermarket here for a bakery. And many of the houses have no Running Water. When people want to take a shower they drive back to old hospital cable ship shape you know. All those who were able to get a house have now come to new his son cave and they have Running Water now to the tourists from a brewers have largely stayed away. The new market whole office the same stephenie is that theres no one to buy them. But yes were going to have obviously well have to stay here now and our Living Conditions will be nicer than before. But its not clear whether well be able to earn what we used to. On the mission but we have nice houses and nice shops but people here live from 2 risen and we dont know whether thats going to work out any laws under that object mr reasonable you know plus even if the tourists return prison it doesnt have the same atmosphere here. Met i hearn on the other hand supports the dam wholehearted day he says that he too lived in the caves as a child and is grateful that those days are now over. Here tourist. Turkish and for interests will come. Theyll be able to swim in the reservoir and immediately get dressed afterwards because the water is so clean. And the water will be colder which means well have more fish fish dont grow to the same size in warm water the fish will be better quality. Will profit from that and then the tourists will return to. But not everyone is convinced by hans arguments at least not those who worked with him and figure out are going to try to stop the dam you clear out his last a few kilos over the whole stress of seeing his home town disappear. From them and caro his black dog was not happy in knew his son case for out says hes now moved to the mountains where the shepherds. But his white dog match 0 had to find a new friend. Thank you to really get in some good to be honest after the water covered haasan cave the town with its people or the wildlife and traditions ceased to exist its gone and now a new system is beginning here the only advantage might be that people are better off economically for. Economical up or good value. For. All it. Shows his friends the place where he plans to build his hotel the prefab section is from the old assange case theyre waiting for. That says the new building should be ready before winter. But his paradise garden is last forever. Because i didnt want to put the same cause to a sensational story by a crush on ted complete to the beautiful ramona. And family man nothing new there defeated in home by hatchability. One ounce ahmad. Also. Should. This. D. W. News live from berlin infection rates are up in countries across europe as politicians and Health Experts try to fend off a 2nd lockdown but some Health Care Systems are nearing capacity will closing british pubs early have in fact and how about munichs view mask wearing rules germany and europe get ready for corona in winter