News & updates

18 March 2003 10:35

KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT,
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (ENGLAND WALES & NORTHERN IRELAND),
CORNERHOUSE,
PLATFORM,
BAKU-CEYHAN CAMPAIGN

Campaigners warn UK government of human rights threats over BP's Caspian oil project

Campaigners have today informed government ministers about intimidation and threats made to people who raise concerns about the Baku T'bilisi Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline project.

Members of the Baku Ceyhan Campaign, including Friends of the Earth (England Wales & Northern Ireland) and the Kurdish Human Rights Project, have written to Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development, and Baroness Symons, Minister for International Trade and Investment, urging them to refuse UK backing for the controversial project.(1)

The campaigners are concerned about recent threats made by a senior figure in the Azeri government. On February 24, 2003 Ilham Aliyev - First Vice-President of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic and son of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev - made a statement on national TV threatening opponents of the project.

According to campaigners, this statement is not an isolated one. There is continuous pressure on people who have expressed views that are not in line with the official position of the government or the State Oil Company. Campaigners claim to have received information about people whose families have been persecuted, and about NGOs that have begun to be monitored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in relation to statements they have made about the BTC oil pipeline.

In another disturbing incident, campaigners point out that a leading lawyer today faces trial in Turkey for his comments on the environmental impact assessment for the Ilisu dam project. In July 2001, the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department published the environmental impact assessment report (EIAR) for the Ilisu dam and hydroelectric power project. In order to inform its decision whether to fund the project, the ECGD requested public comment on the EIAR. The Ilisu Dam Campaign responded by organising a formal submission from a number of experts, including a leading lawyer from Turkey. Mr Mahmut Vefa, General Secretary of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, states in his submission that the Ilisu Dam, if built, would deny local people their property rights and exacerbate the problems of resettlement for the thousands of people who have been displaced by the Turkish authorities’ practice of “village destructions” over the last decade.

Mr Vefa then reproduced this submission in an article in the Diyarbakir Bar Association Journal, published in January 2002. For this article, Mr Vefa now faces trial, accused of “overtly insulting the moral integrity of the Government and the military and security forces”. The trial will be held in Diyarbakir on 18th March 2003.

John Austin MP is to table an Early Day Motion requesting the UK Government, the EU Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe to ensure that international observers are sent to observe the trial and to ensure that Turkey complies with its obligations to provide a fair trial and to protect free expression. Kerim Yildiz, Director of the Baku Ceyhan Campaign and of the Kurdish Human Rights Project says, "In such a climate, where commenting on the environmental studies for a major infrastructure project results in prosecution for a crime against the state, we believe that free and fair consultation on the Baku T’bilisi Ceyhan pipeline cannot take place. The climate, both in Turkey and Azerbaijan, undermines the International Finance Corporation’s proposed consultation for the project. We would therefore urge the UK government to ensure that no public monies are made available for this project at the present time."

For more information please contact: Kate Geary, Baku Ceyhan Campaign 01865 200550 [email protected] or

Rochelle Harris, Kurdish Human Rights Project 0207 2872772 [email protected] -------------------------

Notes for Editors (1) The UK government is considering whether to provide backing for the $3.3 billion pipeline, to be built by a consortium headed by BP, across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. BP is seeking backing from export credit agencies, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, to which the UK government makes contributions. Campaigners say the pipeline threatens human rights, could increase conflict in the region, and will cause grave environmental damage.