Critique
While the EIA shows a strong awareness of the major issues with resettlement and recommends numerous solid mitigation measures, these are systemically worded as vague suggestions rather than specific, funded commitments. In many cases it is unclear what exactly will be done, who is responsible, and where funding will come from. There is a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) referenced, which was developed separately from the EIA and afterward, against international best practice.
Furthermore, the baseline data used in the EIA is admitted to be weak. They depend on a population census from 2000 which is both outdated and incomplete (missing hamlet-class settlements especially), and in addition land titles in the area are unclear, making the process of determining who is entitled to what difficult without a comprehensive survey. Better baseline population and land ownership data should have been collected to improve the RAP and EIA, but budgetary, time, and logistical constraints limited this.
While the EIA shows an awareness of gender-related resettlement issues, the impacts on women section is cursory and favors vague generalizations and suggestions over hard data and concrete measures.
Finally, the EIA states that the wording of Turkey's resettlement laws have been amended to better conform to international standards. However, there are concerns that there is a systemic issue with the government's resettlement programs which will require significant time and reforms to change.
Furthermore, the baseline data used in the EIA is admitted to be weak. They depend on a population census from 2000 which is both outdated and incomplete (missing hamlet-class settlements especially), and in addition land titles in the area are unclear, making the process of determining who is entitled to what difficult without a comprehensive survey. Better baseline population and land ownership data should have been collected to improve the RAP and EIA, but budgetary, time, and logistical constraints limited this.
While the EIA shows an awareness of gender-related resettlement issues, the impacts on women section is cursory and favors vague generalizations and suggestions over hard data and concrete measures.
Finally, the EIA states that the wording of Turkey's resettlement laws have been amended to better conform to international standards. However, there are concerns that there is a systemic issue with the government's resettlement programs which will require significant time and reforms to change.