CHILDREN STAND BY THE TIGRIS RIVER FLOWING THROUGH HASANKEYF, 1999-05-19 (photo)

Children from Hasankeyf town stand by the Tigris flows through the ruins of once-powerful town of ancient Hasankeyf in this May 19, 1999 file photo. Early this millennium, Hasankeyf and its ruins and caves will be submerged by the water collecting for the Ilisu dam when built as part of Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP) aiming at huge energy and irrigation scheme to regenerate Turkey's backward southeast. British MPs accused the government July 12 of ignoring a threat to human rights and Middle East peace in its assessment of export credit to a British firm involved in controversial Ilisu dam project. Committee chairman Bowen Wells said that as well as displacing possible 20,000 Kurds in Turkey it could lead to tensions with downstream neighbours Syria and Iraq. FS/WS