The Çetintepe Dam is a

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. ...

under construction on the Ortasu River (a tributary of the

Hezil River The Hezil Suyu ( ar, نهر الهيزل Nahr al-Hayzal, or Hezil Çayı or the Nizil river, in Turkish language ''suyu'' means ''water of'') is a river in south-eastern Turkey in the Eastern Anatolia Region which flows entirely in the Şırnak P ...

) in Uludere district of Şırnak Province, southeast Turkey. Under contract from Turkey's State Hydraulic Works, Ozerka Insatt began construction on the dam in 2008 and a completion date has not been announced. The reported purpose of the dam is water storage and it can also support a 2 MW

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power station in the future. Another purpose of the dam which has been widely reported in the Turkish press is to reduce the freedom of movement of

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK) militants. Blocking and flooding valleys close to the Iraq–Turkey border is expected to help curb cross-border PKK smuggling and deny caves in which ammunition can be stored. A total of 11 dams along the border; seven in Şırnak Province and four in Hakkâri Province were implemented for this purpose. In Şırnak they are the

Silopi Silopi ( ku, Silopî) is a city and district of Şırnak Province in Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region, close to the borders of Iraq and Syria. The majority of its people are of ethnic Kurds. The district, composed of Silopi center, thre ...

, Şırnak, Uludere, Balli, Kavşaktepe and Musatepe Dams downstream of the Çetintepe Dam. In Hakkari are the Gölgeliyamaç (since cancelled) and Çocuktepe Dams on the Güzeldere River and the Aslandağ and Beyyurdu Dams on the Bembo River. Çetintepe Dam was still under construction as of July 2019, with construction works 68% complete at that time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cetintepe Dam Dams in Şırnak Province Gravity dams Dams in the Tigris River basin Roller-compacted concrete dams Dams under construction in Turkey

See also

References