DAI project for CAPPADOCIA

THE TASK FOR THE DAI-STUDENTS

Generate an idea and propose a plan for an artwork dealing with the situations and problems connected to the water and garbage in the area.

Depending on the forwarded ideas we will set up a planning for a trip to Cappadocia to realize the works and later find possibilities and venues to exhibit the work.

THE REGION

Cappadocia is a region in central Turkey, east of  Ankara. It is a tourist area because of its long and culturally diverse history and it’s beautiful landscape with oddly shaped rocks and pillars carved by erosion from the soft volcanic rock. In medieval times numerous monasteries were carved into the rock of the edges of the numerous valleys.

THE WATER

The region is relatively rich in water supply. Because of it’s high altitude there is significant snowfall in winter. The water drains into the soft rock and fills the groundwater deposits. The farmers used to be able to dig tunnels into the sides of the valleys to access water veins.

There is also a significant river, the Kizilirmak coming from the East of Turkey. But a lot of its water is used industrially in the region’s capital further upstream and recently it is tapped for drinking water for Ankara. Additionally use in very wasteful irrigation systems for agriculture drains the water resources. The ground water level keeps declining and the wells have to be dug deeper and deeper.

THE VILLAGE

Ibrahimpasa is a small village on the border of the real tourist area with a very slow undisturbed village life. It lies on the rocks above the narrow valley with a small stream running below. The houses are partially carved into the rock, partially built from the same material, so that they look like growing out of the rock.

THE VALLEY

The winding valley beneath the village has very steep cliffs, the stream on the bottom is in spring just about a meter wide, it might even dry up in summer.

THE GARBAGE

The villagers above used to just drop their - completely organic - into the valley. Since more and more plastic and other non-degradable material is used and the number of butchers in the village grew, the garbage disposal into the valley has become a problem.

THE WASTEWATER

Before the village was connected to running water, villagers had to get their water at the wells. Now the domestic wastewater is emptied into the valley without any cleaning.

THE PEOPLE

The people in the village are mainly small farmers. They live very traditional, the village square and it’s two tea houses are reserved for the men, the women rather use the side streets and sit together in front of their houses. There is very little tourism in this village. A few people from outside bought some of the old houses and have renovated them extensively.

Willemijn Bouwman, a Dutch artist has a beautiful house in the rock with a small B&B and an artist residence. She is also the driving force behind the initiative to find a solution for the garbage and wastewater problems. Her husband Paul Broekman took us on a walk down the valley, showing us remnants of old monasteries and other interesting sites. Mehmet Ali (the unofficial mayor) was our main source of information. He seems to be the historian of the village and has a house full of antiques.

THE SOLUTION FOR THE WASTE WATER

The proposed solution to deal with the wastewater of the village is a wetland that cleans the water in an ecological way. The initiative is already quite far in realizing the wetland. This also serves as a pilot project and model for other villages in the area.

 

 

first evening on Cappadocia

ibrahimpasa

mustafapasa

ibrahimpasa

open air museum

under ground city

walk with Paul on ibrahimpasa

washing

our room

last evening on ibrahimpasa

taxi of Ankara

One of the venues for the festival is the Greek Orthodox Eleni Church in Musafapasa. Once a year, on the Saint’s day of the Church, a delegation from Greece visits with the patriarch to hold a service. 

The village Ibrahimpasa in Cappadocia, in central Turkey, where we went to study the water issues of the region. 

Our DAI house for 10 days:

 

Talking with Willemijn Bouwman, who invited the DAI to contribute to her project: the Art Eco Platform.

 

Collection of trash in Ibrahimpasa

 

Walking in the amazing landscape: for thousands of years, people built their houses by cutting them into the soft rock. 

 

In the Göreme Open Air Museum, where once was a bustling Monastery community, with numerous chapels, refectories, kitchens and living quarters cut into the rock.

 

In the underground city of Derinkuyu

 

The on-site classroom of the Organic Agriculture Program of the Cappadocia Vocational College in Mustafapasa with their teacher Ceren Nazik (on the right).

 

Walk with Mehmet Ali, the deputy mayor, along the water infrastructure of Ibrahimpasa 

 

The former Orthodox church in Ibrahimpasa

 

Visiting the Wali (governor) of Nevsehir

for more see: www.nevsehir.gov.tr/haber_oku.php?id=720 

 At the garbage dump of Nevsehir

 

Examining the water of the natural hot spring in Bayramhaci

 

 

Dear DAI People, I have received today e mail from Ozge Celikaslan, from KozaVisual organization.  

Dear Ljubica,

 I’m sorry for replying your mail lately; I was abroad and couldn’t reply e-mails. It will be nice to meet you at NIHA (Netherlands Institute for Higher Education in Ankara, where DAI group is going to stay at) after your Cappadocia research.

I have been coordinating KozaVisual since last year. We went to Cappadocia, Ibrahimpasa Village two times in 2007. Alite was with us in one of them. Actually, we tried to understand the village life and villagers through visual tools. But we didn’t have enough time to understand it deeply. Later, I went to Cappadocia a few times for other NIHA projects.

 The village is a typical one in mid-Anatolia. But at the same time, it has a special characteristic. It is divided in two parts: the new village and the old one. You will stay in the old part of it. Old part has caves; old houses remained from Greeks and churches in the valley. There was a huge migration motion in Turkey between 1904-1915 (if I’m not wrong for the exact dates). The migration was forced by the Turkish government and military forces. Greeks, Armenians and other minorities were forced to leave their villages and homes. The film, named 190B tries to tell this story. Director of the film tried to find the lost door number, which is supposed as a metaphor of the history. This Christian history had to be forgotten by the villagers, you could take it as a “loss of memory”

 There are lots of underground cities in the area remained from wars or attacks. The guessed number is around 130 (I’m sure much more than this number). But only 30 of them were found and open to tourist visits.

Ok, I can tell more but the theme is water. Cappadocia has a special nature. The caves and huge stones all around the area, as an open museum, is the second example in the world. And the most important problem in the area is environment. There is no environment and water management policy in the area. For Ibrahimpasa and other villages, villagers still throw their wastes to the valleys. In the old times, this system works, because the waste was natural but now, modern wastes are plastic, chemical etc.

 Water system is old and doesn’t work. The village has no water in winter because of the frozen pipes. You will see from the pictures of Willemijn and she will tell more about water problems I think. The point is, for the villagers, it is very ordinary. Some of them, especially younger ones are very angry about waste problems. I don’t know who is “the guilty”, government, mayors, municipality, villagers.

 Art/Eco Platform Cappadocia is trying to tell it by art. And, you should meet with Fabriakartgroup in Mustafapasa, Sinasos with its old name. They organize the modern art festival in Cappadocia and the theme is “water bright”. I am also in the organization team. I told about your visit to directors of the festival, Kaan and Gulhan. They will wait for to meet with you. www.fabrikartgroup.org

 I hope that this information helps. Do you have any other questions?

Greetings to your friends and I’m looking forward to meet you at NIHA between 12th and 14th of June.

 All the best, Ozge - www.kozavisual.org  

 This are the new information about our project. Thank to everybody on the fast reply!  

Suzanne Van Rest

Tourism*

Is tourism causing more problems in wastewater and garbage, because they are used to higher standards. And therefore using more water for example with showering.

*Is their a demand from the tourist to change the situation, because tourist don’t like to see polluted ground and water.

*Is their a problem when a lot of tourist come at the same time, is their for example enough water then. And who is getting the water, the big hotels or the local people

*Can tourism be used for dealing with this problem, the money they bring in or the connections etc.

places to find answers:

*tourist organizations

*local government

*hotels

*local people

*water companies(?)

*rotary club  

 

Ljubica Cvoric

Garbage dump places

* Check next places and see what is the most urgent and polluted area:

officially garbage dump placesn 

illegal dump placesn   

garbage dump places from individual householdsn   

butcher / slaughter garbage·     

 

What is opinion of the local people about this, and what is opinion of the local government (maybe to do a interview with few different people).

Research the level of awareness about this problem, because I assume that lot of people simply don’t see this situation as a urgent and “dangerous”.·     

What are the rules and regulations about garbage dump places?·     

Check the way on which they are collecting the garbage and trash. How often they collect the trash (employers who are responsible for collecting the trash).·     

How the system for recycling is functioning there?·     

Do they have some priorities when is the matter of trash?·      Think about the differences in the city and in the village – in the sense of solving the problems with garbage.

How the cities are dealing with the garbage in touristic areas, near hotels, beaches etc.·     

 Try to collect as much information as possible about the garbage places, and try to make some kind of map, with all specific and characteristic information.·     

Try to build a kind of “guide” map, and maybe, later try to find a way to mark all this places in the same manner, so they can be more visible. In “artistic” way ( to be more designed, to have a different shape, for example), -but what is more important, through that kind of “new” visibility they should bring another level,  layer of awareness. 

 

Hidenori Mitsue

InfrastructureQuestions:

What is the systems there?

* waterworks infrastructure.

* Sewage disposal infrastructure.

* Situation of wastewater treatment center. What is happening there?

* Where the water is coming from? (How they get the water?)

* Where the water is going?

* How much water they are using (need)? 

How they are “behave” with the water?

* How people are using it?

* How people deal with the wastewater?

* How much budget for the infrastructure the government have?  

 

Marina Tomic

Wastewater Wastewater can come from:

-Human waste, usually from: used toilet paper, wipes, urine, other bodily fluids

-Septic tank discharge

-Sewage treatment

-Washing water (personal, clothes, floors, dishes, etc.)

-Rainfall collected on roofs, yards, hard-standings, etc.

-Liquids from domestic sources (drinks, cooking oil, pesticides, paint, cleaning liquids, etc.)

-Seawater ingress

-Direct ingress of river water

-Direct ingress of man-made liquids (illegal disposal of pesticides, used oils, etc.)

-Industrial waste:–industrial site drainage (silt, sand, alkali, oil, chemical)0.Industrial process waters0.

Organic - bio-degradable - includes waste from abattoirs and creameries and ice-cream manufacture.0.

Organic - non bio-degradable or difficult to treat - for example Pharmaceutical or Pesticide manufacturing0.

Inorganic - for example from the metalworking industry0.extreme pH - from acid/alkali manufacturing, metal plating0.

Toxic - e.g. from metal plating, cyanide production, pesticide manufacturing0.agricultural drainage - direct and diffuse0.etc.

Starting to read about waste water I found a lot of treatment process which can be used to clean up wastewater, some of them are:-          Wastewater treatment plants which may include physical, chemical and biological treatment processes.-         

Use of septic tanks  -         

On-Site Sewage Facilities which is widespread in rural areas,-         

 The most important aerobic treatment system is the activated sludge process, based on the keeping and recirculation of a complex biomass composed by micro-organisms able to absorb and adsorb the organic matter carried in the wastewater-           

Ecological approaches using reed bed systems such as constructed wetlands may be appropriate. Modern systems include tertiary treatment by micro filtration or synthetic membranes. After membrane filtration, the treated wastewater is indistinguishable from waters of natural origin of drinking quality. I suppose that exist more other treatments, these few I just mention, but I still don’t have idea how they look, and how they work. That will be the first thing or question for waste water in Cappadocia- to see their system for waste water.In mail of Caroline Delan (which Buba posted, few days ago) I read that the village has  system to collect the waste water, but still they miss wastewater treatment system. That is thing on which they are working now -wetlands.In this mail Caroline tell everything about wastewater, and also about their future plans, process, recording of process and people and organization that are included in. But even if I read carefully I still miss a lot about treatments. 

 So, questions will/can be:

-From where is coming most of wastewater in rural area of Cappadocia ?-What is the source? (as I mention on beginning source can be- human waste, liquids from domestic sources, industrial site, rainfall etc)-And something about future wetland project. Lot of people is included in-organizations, students, local people, and businessmen’s.

-What is the expectation of this project from their point of view? I think that we can ask same questions

:-Local people-Students from Cappadocia professional University, Mustafapasa, who are included in project and voluntary students-Organizations NihaAnkara and local authorities –-Also the thing which  is interesting for me is that film maker from KozaVisual will coordinate in preparing visibly material for recording of process wetland, and I would like that we can see more video materials from KozaVisual. 

Renaldi Zefi

Industry

1.    Where is the location of most industrial sites?

2.    Is there any house or people live nearby?

3.    What kind of factory that we can find the most?

4.    What type of industry that make the worst (and least) pollution?

5.    Is there any policy for establishing new factory.

6.    How the factory treat their waste? Underground cities : people still use it or just an abandoned space?Monastery : any Christian monasteries still exist / function around Cappadocia, and how they interact with local (surrounding) people?Music : any traditional groups of musician that I can work together with?   

I would like to make an appointment for Japanese women who live in Cappadocia at 6th June. I asked to her about date which day she prefer to take it on 6th June. It is okey for yours? And her house isn’t far from Ibrahimpasa. She’ living in Urgup, then we can manage to come there by foot. She and her husband doing tourist business on there. I made an appointment on their office.

Please let me know if you have an question?

Hide

Maybe not so useful web sites to see, but still enough interesting to check it, and understand better our future-present project in Turkey…

http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/conservation/rainbarrel/

http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/

www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcglobal/4israsign3.html

Israel signs agreement to buy water from Turkey

March 2004

U.S. Water News Online

JERUSALEM — Israel has signed an agreement to buy water from Turkey and may pay for part of it with weapons, in a deal aimed at alleviating Israel’s chronic water shortage and cementing its relations with an important Middle East ally.

Under the 20-year agreement, Turkey will ship 40,500 acre feet of water annually from its Manavgat River, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea, the two countries said. Details must still be worked out, including the price of the water and how to transport it to Israel, they said.

The agreement, more than two years in the making, comes at a time when Israel’s main source of fresh water, the Sea of Galilee, is full to overflowing after abundant rainfall. But long-term prospects in the arid region are bleak.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said the water would probably be shipped in tankers or towed across the Mediterranean in large plastic bubbles to a storage facility.

Based on estimated shipping costs from the ministry, the deal could amount to tens of millions of dollars a year for Turkey. Peled said a small amount of that money would be paid in goods, most likely military items.

In the parched Middle East, water is a strategic issue as well as one of survival. Turkey is one of the few countries in the region with water reserves, and sales of the precious commodity could boost its position as a regional power.

Israel’s relationship with the large Islamic country is important to the Jewish state, especially after more than three years of fighting with the Palestinians. The violence has caused tension in the Middle East and strained Israel’s ties with Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab countries with which it has signed peace treaties.

“This agreement will increase the cooperation between the two countries and also lead to peace and stability in the Middle East,” said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan.

He said the landmark agreement turns water into an internationally accepted “commodity,” and that Turkey hopes to sell water to other countries.

Israel currently gets most of its water from the Sea of Galilee. It also is building a desalination plant in the port city of Ashkelon, a project that is expected to take several years to complete.

Peled said Israel hopes the deal with Turkey could lead to further agreements to share water with Jordan or the Palestinians.

 

At Expo 2008, Turkey to reflect humanitarian approach to waterwww.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=142181