Berlin - Germany has suspended loans to Turkey to build a dam on the Tigris river after warning that the reservoir would uproot people from homes, swamp the remains of an ancient town and harm the environment. An aid ministry spokesman in Berlin said Monday that a government guarantee on export receipts for dam equipment had been withdrawn after Turkey had ignored a warning and continued work on the controversial Ilisu Dam.
Turkey's government now had 180 days to fulfil environmental standards on the project, or else Germany would no longer help finance the dam and hydro lake.
The spokesman said it was utterly unacceptable that Turkey had continued work on the project and confiscated more land after the initial warning. The lake is to have an area of more than 300 square kilometres.
It would flood Hasankeyf, a city with archaeological remains of major scholarly importance, and force the relocation of 10,000 people.
Germany had originally guaranteed German exporters would be paid 190 million euros (265 million dollars). Export credits can be used as a form of project finance.
