A 12000-year-old town in Turkey submerges underwater as the crowd watches on

An ancient, more than a 12000-year-old town in Turkey’s southeastern province of Batman, slowly submerged in water due to rising levels of a dam. The giant Ilısu Dam project has drowned the town of Hasankeyf, which was a human settlement thousands of years ago. Locals watched with heavy hearts as ‘history disappeared’ underwater.
The dam project was approved in the year 1997 by the Turkish government to generate electricity. Since then, the dam has made more than 80000 people from 199 villages homeless. Authorities in the neighboring country, Iraq, also fear the impact of the same on their water supplies from the River Tigris.

After going through several issues, the dam started filling last July and the level of water in and around the town began to rise at an alarming rate. The water had already risen some 15 m and then continued rising by around 15 cm every day. The dam is an imperative part of Turkey’s Southeastern Anatolia Project. It is designed to boost the economic growth of the region by turning it into a developed state.

A number of residents, who used to live in the town of Hasankeyf have left and others are planning to move to a new town. The new town, Yeni Hasankeyf, is set on a hill close by and will have people soon.

As of now, the only thing visible are some stone pillars from an ancient bridge. This bridge was once a crucial part of the town and spanned the Tigris. But now, all that one can see is a few pillars. On the sides of the bridge, there is a huge amount of dirt to prevent the water from entering the town.


The dam water has now come close to the shores of the town located at the end of the bridge; it has already destroyed some houses on the shores and no human is allowed to get close. Only the residents are allowed inside, who are there to collect their belongings.

It is believed that once the dam is filled with water, the region would become a hot tourist spot. There would be ferries for tourists between the new town to the old town (whatever remains above the water).