Rock camp to be set up to save Hasankeyf

BATMAN

The Ilısu Dam construction will submerge the 12,000-year-old ancient city of Hasankeyf under water. AA photo

The “Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive,” will set up a camp on the riverside of the Tigris to stop the construction of the Ilısu Dam, which will submerge the 12,000-year-old ancient city of Hasankeyf under water.

The Hasankeyf Solidarity Camp was scheduled to be set up in May, but was postponed because of the mining disaster in Manisa’s district of Soma. Hundreds of people, as well as delegations from Turkey and Europe, were invited to join the camp, which will be set up between Sept. 19-21.

Ömer Faruk Akyüz, an official from the initiative, said they would not let Hasankeyf remain under water. “This year’s theme will be rock music and we named the camp ‘Barajarock.’ We will start a process for music and arts to reunite with the history of Hasankeyf. The artists we invited make alternative music and show a culture of resistance,” he said.

The initiative’s spokesperson Kemal Öner said with the Hasankeyf Solidarity Camp, their goal was to make more people hear the ancient city’s screams.

Öner said the sound of the Tigris River would echo with the sound of rock music. “If you are one of us and say ‘Rock against the dam,’ we want to see you among us. Our target audience is everyone,” he said.