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.

 

 

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

 

 

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 

just back from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, close to the arctic circle: they also have a lot of problems with water, wastewater and garbage there. Even though there was about 40 cm of snow when we arrived, the amount of annual precipitation is very small and the area is categorized as a desert: water is scarce. Part of the town and most of the smaller communities do not get water through a pipe system. Each house gets it delivered by truck every day into a tank. If there is a snow storm, the truck often cannot ride, and you have to ration your water, very quick showers, or none at all, if the storm lasts another day or two. In the same way, the waste water is collected by truck from the houses and is driven to the sewage lagoon at the end of town. Not such a problem in winter, when this lake of shit is frozen, but in the summer it stinks. And the animals, birds, and in some communities even the bigger animals, Caribou, that are hunted for food, started to feed from the sewage lagoons. Garbage is another big problem: everything that is brought there stays there and ends on the dump (machines, cars, building material, packaging, paper, plastic, beer cans, you name it). Due to the climate, the breakdown even of biological material takes much longer than elsewhere.  And the dump grows and grows. They are thinking of solutions, but until now, they haven’t found any they could afford.