“The Ilısu project, which symbolizes peace, brotherhood, serenity, prosperity, and power, is the largest one of the dams and HEPPs that we lined up on the Tigris River like a necklace,” Erdoğan said.

Highlighting the importance of inaugurating such a facility when the world and Turkey were faced with the risk of drought, Erdoğan said: “We have to use our full potential in order to protect our country against food crisis, triggered by drought, and similarly against the increasingly more visible energy crisis. We cannot tolerate wasting even a drop of our country’s water resources. We must also maximize renewable energy production based on our own resources. The dark picture, outlined by the scenarios regarding the future of the world, necessitates that we are ready for all possibilities.”

The Ilısu Dam is a concrete-face rock-fill dam on the Tigris near the village of Ilısu and along the border of Mardin and Şırnak Provinces in Turkey.

It is one of the 22 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project and its purpose is hydroelectric power production, flood control, and water storage. When operational, the dam will support a 1,200 MW power station and will form a 10.4 billion m3 reservoir.

Construction of the dam began in 2006 and was originally expected to be completed by 2016.