Atatürk Dam
The Ataturk Dam ( Turkish Ataturk Baraji ) on the Euphrates is the first, most important and largest of the 22 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project ( GAP) in Turkey. Named after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk dam is about 1.5 times as large as Lake Constance. The dam is named after the bulk volume of the dam is the ninth largest in the world, according to memory space it is in twenty-second place. The information about the date of completion vary depending on the perspective from 1990 to 1995 since 1992. It is in operation.
The dam is used to generate electricity as well as two tunnels in Şanlıurfa agricultural irrigation of 1.7 million hectares of land. From the hydroelectric plant nearly 10 % of the electrical energy in Turkey is generated.
The Atatürk Dam is - like all new dams - a controversial building, because he brought ecological, economic, cultural and political problems, and brings. Important historical and archaeological sites such as the ancient city of Samosata were flooded through him permanently. Erosion by the sea silted up more and more, because the soil is flushed from the surrounding landscape in the reservoir. Therefore decided in 1998 the Turkish government to reforest the slopes around the Ataturk dam around an area the size of the Saarland. Thousands of student volunteers have planted there the lake shore with trees.
Turkey has been in a 1987 agreement with Syria obliged to drain at least 500 cubic meters of water per second through the Euphrates.
Flooded towns
The reservoir covers a few hundred hamlets and villages. About 55,000 to 65,000 people had to be resettled in the area before. In 1989, the village of Samosata in the province of Adiyaman was also flooded. 2000 inhabitants of this city were moved to the newly founded village Samsat (now 4367 inhabitants).