The Status of Internally Displaced Kurds in Turkey: - Kurdish Human ...

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KHRP / BHRC 200620
The Status of Internally Displaced Kurds in TurkeySection 1: Return to Village and Rehabilitation ProjectIntroduction: Aims and ObjectivesThe Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project (the ‘Project’) was launchedin March 1999 by then Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. Its aim is ‘to ensure thatthose who left their villages for security reasons could return to their villages orsettle in other suitable places to create sustainable life conditions by constructingnecessary social and economic infrastructures’ 22 . The Project includes in its aimsthe instigation of resettlement studies, the identification of families who wish toreturn to their villages, the completion of the necessary infrastructure and facilitieswithin the abandoned and ruined villages, housing development, the completion ofsocial facilities, including health and education services, and endeavours to supportactivities such as agriculture, husbandry, beekeeping and handicrafts so that thereturning families can support themselves and earn a living. The Project covers the14 south-eastern provinces of Adıyamın, Ağrı, Batman, Bingöl, Bitlis, Diyarbakır,Elazığ, Hakkari, Mardin, Muş, Siirt, Şırnak, Tunceli and Van.Since 2000, the Project’s administration has been managed by the Ministry of theInterior and the relevant local governorships, for the purpose of enlarging theProject’s scope and to facilitate implementation. There are two types of assistanceavailable to IDPs under the Project. Firstly, individual households may be providedwith building materials and some farm animals when they apply to a governorshipto return their village: funds are provided from a government-allotted budget forthe Project. Secondly, governorships rebuild public infrastructure in some resettledvillages, which is funded from individual governorships’ ‘Special ProvincialAdministration Budget’.However, since its inception, the Project has been heavily criticised by leadinginternational organisations for its poor performance. In his 2002 assessment ofthe situation, the Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rightsof Internally Displaced Persons, Walter Kälin, said that ‘Although the Governmenthad pursued return programmes, including the Return to Village and Rehabilitation22 Press release issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, March 199921
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