Evaluation of actual impacts of the Ataturk Dam

Examines the environmental, economic and social impacts of Turkey's Ataturk Dam.

The primary objective of this paper is to analyse the extent and magnitude of the actual social, economic and environmental impacts of the Ataturk Dam in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey, on the region some eight years after its construction was completed. The direct impacts, both positive and negative, due to the construction of the Ataturk Dam on the people living in the two provinces affected directly, Adiyaman and Sanliurfa, as well as on the region as a whole, are reviewed. The emphasis of this analysis was on economic, social and environmental issues, both direct and indirect, over the short to medium
term, which could be objectively estimated and evaluated with reasonable accuracy.