Dam administration in Turkey and strategical approaches

The increasing demand for water and energy in the world has increased the strategic importance of water resources which have been depleting because of the climate change. Building dams in Turkey was adopted as a state policy with the declation of republic, and all governments since then have embraced this policy, seeing it as an intrument of social and economic development. As dam investments are soaring for the purpose of irrigation and hydroelectricity production, the environmental and social cost of dams requires a multidimensional investigation of pro-dam approaches. This dissertation consists of two main sections: Theory and application. The `theory? section draws a conceptual framework for the strategic importance of dam building in Turkey and the world. The `application? section aims to highlight the main problems in the process of dam management thus creating awareness of `problem? areas among all actors in charge of dam management by analyzing the findings of interviews made with officials in charge of dam administration and of surveys conducted with common people in order to understand their perception on dam investments. According to the research findings, climate factor is generally ignored in dam investments. It should also be noted that public interest assessments and environmental impact assessment reports which are supposed to take a variety of factors into consideration sometimes do not focus enough attention on disaster risks. Moreover, it is regarded as self-contradictory that, in some areas researched in this dissertation, people?s needs and opinions are not taken into account, in disregard of procedures and principles of participatory democracy, in dam investments which are essentially public investments. However, this dissertation also points out the benefits of dam investments such as job creation and positive externalities. Keywords: Water Resources, Dam, Hydropower Plant, Dam Administration, Dam Security.