It's a victory for environmentalists, trumpets Frankfurter Rundschau. Germany, Austria and Switzerland have withdrawn from the construction of a dam in Ilisu, south-east Turkey. Two years after signing up to this controversial project that weighs in at €1.3bn for the construction of dams, reservoirs and a hydroelectric power station in an ecologically sensitive region, the governments have withdrawn their export guarantees, arguing that "Turkey has not sufficiently respected its obligations, neither in matters of the environment and the conservation of cultural heritage, nor in the displacement of local populations," the German daily reports. Reminding readers that the project was accompanied by a protest campaign organised by NGO's, artists and ecologists, the Rundschau opines that "Turkey will surely find the necessary funds elsewhere." "David has not felled Goliath," it concludes, "but at least, it has tripped it up."
Turkey
Ilisu project damned
8 July 2009
Presseurop
Frankfurter Rundschau 
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