What is being done to improve the life standards in the Turkish Southeast?
Investments in the region constitute 17.5% of the total investments made throughout Turkey, despite the fact that the population in the southeast is only 9% of the country. Annual investment by far outpaces tax revenues generated in the region.

• GAP Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi (Southeastern Anatolian Project)
  A gigantic hydroelectric and irrigation project that will transform the economy of the arid southeast. Spending on the project, which will ultimately consist of 22 dams, 10 hydroelectric power plants and 37 irrigation systems, proceeds at $1.7 million daily.

  When the project is completed plants to be built on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers which together flow more than 50 billion cubic metres of water annually will regulate 28 percent of Turkey's total water potential.

  More than 1.7 million hectares of land will be irrigated and 27 billion kW of electric energy will annually be produced by an installed capacity of over 7,460 MW. "Agricultural and industrial, potential to be created by GAP will increase the level of income in the region by 5 folds" and some 3.5 million of the regional population expected to go beyond 9 million in the year 2005 will find employment opportunities. Thus creating large employment oppurtunities and better education possibilities and an overall improvement of several fold in the regions life standards.

• Housing
  The housing project includes construction of 6795 houses in cities and the building of new houses for villagers left homeless by PKK attacks. 5782 of these houses were completed and handed oven to owners and 2321 houses and offices repaired.

GAP REGION

The region covering Batman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Mardin, Siirt,Sanliurfa, Sirnak and Kilis provinces in the Southeast Anatolia Region is defined as the "GAP Region". Surrounded by Syria in the south and by Iraq in the southeast this area has a total area of 75,358 square kilometres which constitute 9.7 percent of Turkey's total area. 20 percent of 8.5 million hectares of land suitable for irrigation lies in the GAP Region encompassing vast plains in Lower Euphrates and Tigris basins.

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