Construire
le Sud Est83 000 KM carrés et 32 milliards de dollars US… Voici en gros
quelques chiffres concernant la projet de développement le plus
ambitieux en construction entre l'Europe et l'Asie. Le Projet de
l'Anatolie du SudEst (GAP) est destiné à élever les provinces souvent
arides du sudest de la Turquie au niveau général de prospérité du
pays. Lancé au début des années 1980, GAP
utilise les eaux des grandes rivières, l'Euphrate et le Tigre, pour
irriguer les plaines de la Mésopotamie. Lorsque les 22 barrages et les
canaux d'irrigation qui y sont connectés seront terminés en l'an 2010,
les terres irriguées du pays auront augmenté de 50 %. Au total, une
surface égale à celle du Benelux en profitera et la région sera
exportatrice de coton de longues fibres, de maïs, d'orge, de petits
pois, de lentilles, d'arachides, de soja et de fruits. On a pu voir,
ces dernières années, l'importance de GAP et le changement considérable
qu'il apporte à la région. Construit actuellement plus qu'à moitié, le
but de GAP n'est pas uniquement d'augmenter les niveaux de revenus dans
la région, mais également, à travers des investissements parallèles
(dans l'industrie, les transports, le tourisme, les télécoms, la santé,
l'éducation, l'habitat rural et urbain, l'infrastructure…) d'élever le
niveau de vie général de la région. Il s'agit d'un des projets les plus
ambitieux en Europe, construit par des entrepreneurs turcs et financé
par les propres ressources de la Turquie. De l'énergie pour
l'avenir Autrefois célèbre comme point de
départ de la Route de la soie vers l'Orient mythique, la Turquie a
aujourd'hui une nouvelle importance, étant à cheval sur les routes
d'exportation principales des réserves de pétrole et de gaz naturel le
plus récentes du monde : les riches étendues du bassin de la Mer
Caspienne qui ne sont pas encore exploitées.
Finalement, il n'y a rien d'étonnant de voir que les Turcs regardent
leur avenir avec beaucoup de confiance. Les pas énormes se suivent et
en 2004, l'année très importante (et fragile) en ce qui concerne les
relations entre la Turquie et l'UE, il sera vital, pour l'avenir de
tous, de bien apprécier les offres et les valeurs da la Turquie. The
Southeastern Anatolia Project The Southeastern Anatolia
Project (GAP) is a multisector and integrated regional development
effort approached in the context of sustainable development. Its basic
objectives include the improvement of living standards and income
levels and contributing to such national goals as social stability and
economic growth by enhancing productivity and employment opportunities
in the rural sector. The project area covers 9 administrative provinces
(Adiyaman, Batman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Kilis, Mardin, Siirt,
Sanliurfa and Sirnak) in the basins of the Euphrates and Tigris and in
Upper Mesopotamia. The first idea and decision
to utilize the waters of these two rivers rationally belong to Atatürk,
the founder of the Republic. Upon the order of Atatürk, the Electricity
Studies Administration was founded in 1936 to investigate issues on how
rivers in the country could be utilized for energy production. The GAP
was then originally planned in the 70s consisting of projects for
irrigation and hydraulic energy production on the Euphrates and Tigris,
but transformed into a multisector development program in the 80s with
the inclusion of sectors such as agriculture, rural and urban
infrastructure, forestry, education and health. The water resources
development component of the program envisages the construction of 22
dams and 19 hydraulic power plants and irrigation of 1.7 million
hectares of land.The total cost of the project is estimated as 32
billion US $. The project rests upon the
philosophy of sustainable human development, which aims to create an
environment in which future generations can benefit and develop.
BACKGROUND OF SOUTHEASTERN ANATOLIA PROJECT Surrounded by Syria to the
south and Iraq to the southeast, the GAP region represents 9.7 percent
of the total surface area and 20 percent of the irrigable land in
Turkey. Also referred to as "Fertile Crescent" or "Upper Mesopotamia",
the GAP region is known as the cradle of antic civilizations and served
historically as a bridge between Anatolia and
Mesopotamia. The Euphrates and the Tigris, the
two major rivers in Turkey flow in this region. Southeastern Anatolia
receives less precipitation than the other regions of the country. It
was thus considered to develop water resources in the basins of these
two rich rivers for irrigation and energy generation purposes and to
bring these two rivers with irregular flow regimes under control.
The Southeastern Anatolia Project Regional
Development Administration based in Ankara was instituted upon a
Government Decree of 6 November 1989. The core duty of the GAP
Administration is to plan for and realize all efforts and activities
geared to the development of the region in the context of a
"comprehensive regional planning approach" that covers all economic and
social sectors in consistency with the objectives, targets and
strategies of regional development". Upon the
completion of the 13 projects prepared to built facilities over the
rivers Euphrates and Tigris, 28 percent of the total water potential of
the country will have been taken under control, 1.7 million hectares of
land will have been brought under irrigation and annually 27 billion
kWh of electric energy (22 % of total electric energy potential in
Turkey) will have been produced on an installed capacity of 7485
MW. Expected high potential in both industry
and agriculture will increase the income level of the region fivefold
and create employment for 3.5 million people in the region whose
population is projected to reach more than 9 million in
2005. Project implementation will also improve
urban infrastructure and enhance the population absorbing capacity of
urban centers. Furthermore exports from the region will be promoted by
mobilizing the resources of the region and ensuring a sustained
economic growth. This is the largest investment initiative ever
launched in Turkey with a total value of 4.2 quadrillion TL (32 billion
US$) at 1997 prices. As of the end of 2001, 1 quadrillion and 530
trillion TL has been spend for the project. The
Republic of Turkey assigns great importance to the elimination of
interregional disparities in the process of social and economic
development. This emphasis derives not only from aspirations for a fair
and equitable process of development but also from the sound assumption
that inducement of the potential of relatively underdeveloped regions
will contribute significantly to such targets as economic growth export
promotion and social stability. The GAP Master
Plan which draws the general frame for regional development formulates
the basic objective of "raising the development indicators of the
region up to country standards in shortest possible time", defines
economic and social targets serving this objective and adopts the basic
strategy of "transforming the region into an export center for
agriculture based goods". The latest revised macro
frame of the GAP Regional Development Plan is drawn by the Long Term
Strategy (Decree no. 697 dated 27.06.2000 and the 8th FiveYear
Development Plan). This frame has recently been further enriched by
efforts waged under the "Program for Transition to a Strengthened
Economy" prepared as a part of the process for Turkey's accession to
the European Union Today, GAP is a regional development
project carried out within the framework of sustainable human
development. In this sense, it targets to create opportunities for the
people of the region to enable them to materialize their economic
potential and preferences fully. OBJECTIVES OF
GAP Compared to similar projects worldwide, the
Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) is rather ambitious in terms of its
geographical area, physical magnitudes and targets. It is a
multisector, integrated regional development project launched in one of
the relatively less developed regions of the country. As an integrated
project, it goes beyond physical investments in such facilities as
dams, power plants and irrigation schemes and encompasses activities
and investments, in a coordinated manner, in many diverse fields
including agricultural development, industry, rural and urban
infrastructure, communication, education, health, culture, tourism and
other social services. The GAP has set its specific targets in the
framework of the overall state policy to eliminate interregional
development disparities. In this sense, the GAP overlaps with the state
policy on the assumption that mobilization of the development potential
of less developed regions will contribute to such national objectives
as economic growth, social stability and
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