UK Report Says 60,000 Affected by Turkish Dam Plan

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Nearly 60,000 people would have their homes or land flooded
by the proposed Ilisu dam project in southeast Turkey, a new report for the British
government said on Tuesday.

Britain's government commissioned the environmental impact report to help decide whether
to underwrite participation in the project by British builders Balfour Beatty Plc, part of a
consortium negotiating to build the dam across the Tigris river.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt will make a decision after September 7 on
whether to grant the export credit guarantees, officials said.

Until then, the government is studying the report and inviting public comment on the project.

"We've always said that we would want to look at the environmental and social impact of the
dam before any decision," a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair spokesman said.

Opponents of the project say it will displace tens of thousands of Kurds, harm the
environment and stoke tensions with downstream neighbours Syria and Iraq over water
supplies.

Former Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers said in 1999 he was "minded" to
approve export credits for the project if Turkey met conditions on environmental issues and
resettlement of the mainly Kurdish population.

The report Byers commissioned, which his successor Hewitt is now studying, said some
59,314 people would be affected by the flooding caused by the proposed dam -- meaning
they would lose all or part of their land to the resulting reservoir.

It said 43,733 of these actually live in the areas to be affected. The others do not live there
but their property would suffer and they could still claim expropriation or resettlement
rights.

"The area to be impacted comprises hundreds of archaeological sites documenting more than
100,000 years of human occupancy," the report added.

The remains of Hasankeyf, a large historic site dating back 2,000 years and with "great
religious importance" for local people, would be flooded, it said.

Hewitt declined comment on the report, but invited public comment on the matter by
September 7.

Balfour Beatty said it had received a copy of the report and was studying it.

"Whilst Balfour Beatty is neither the promoter nor the proposer of the project, it is taking an
active and responsible role in evaluating, with other parties, the environmental and social
impacts of he project in order that appropriate decisions can be taken," the company said in a
statement.
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600 Immigrants Rescued Off Italy

Associated Press

CROTONE, Italy (AP) -- The Italian navy on Wednesday pulled some 600 would-be
illegal immigrants, thought to be Kurds, from a freighter adrift off Italy' s southern coast, a
port official said.

Eight of the passengers who were suffering from dehydration were taken by a speedboat
to the southern port of Crotone, Capt. Giuseppe Bellantone said. A pregnant woman and
a child were hospitalized, he said.

An Italian navy frigate carrying the rest of those rescued -- most of them believed to be
Iraqi and Turkish Kurds -- was expected to reach Crotone in the afternoon, Bellantone
said.

Coast guard helicopters early Wednesday morning spotted the ship, which had apparently
run out of fuel, several miles off Italy' s Calabrian coast.

Bellantone said officials were still trying to determine the nationality of the Ammoil, a
freighter, and from where the vessel had sailed.

Immigrant smuggling is a serious problem along Italy' s long, poorly patrolled coastline.
Most are headed to northern Europe, where many, including Kurds, have relatives with
homes or jobs.
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