XX. HAVE TURKISH GOVERNMENTS BEEN INDIFFERENT TO THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY?
The reasons for Southeastern Turkey’s underdevelopment which is to be tackled are the lack of natural resources except limited oil reserves and rich water sources, the remoteness of the region from the places of trade centers, and the mountainous, nonarable nature of the land.104 The allegation that the region has been neglected by being deprived of public services is untrue. The Southeastern Anatolia Development Project (Güneydo?u Anadolu Projesi-GAP) which includes world’s third largest dam and irrigation system was put into motion in 1965, long before the PKK and with no aim of soothing ethnical separatist tensions,105 but to close the gap between rich Western regions and the poor East. When the distribution of public investment spending in Turkey on the regional basis between 1983 and 1992 is looked at, the table will be as follows (*million Turkish Liras regarding the value of Turkish Lira by the year 1993):106
| REGIONS | TOTAL INVESTMENT | AMOUNT OF SPENDING PER HEAD |
| SOUTHEAST | 52,793,970 | 10.2 |
| EAST | 29,230,239 | 5.5 |
| AEGEAN | 112,166,889 | 14.8 |
| MEDITERRANEAN | 66,147,385 | 9.4 |
| CENTRAL ANATOLIAN | 97,041,020 | 9.8 |
| BLACK SEA | 48,224,782 | 5.9 |
| MARMARA | 105,975,811 | 8.0 |
| TOTAL | 551,580,095 | 9.1 |
When the balance of account is considered for the five year period between 1986 and 1990, the amount supplied by the Southeast to the budget is 26.1 trillion Turkish Liras and the total spending for the region in the same period is 78 trillion Turkish Liras.107
Big amount of spending for the realization of GAP is shown as one of the causes of high inflation rate in Turkey. The project, which is to be completed by the year 2005, envisages the construction of 22 dams and 17 hydroelectric power plants, investments for the development of agriculture, transportation, industry and health, irrigation of 1.7 million hectares of land, and production of 27 billion kilowatt hours of energy. The cost for the completion of dams and plants is estimated 32 billion US Dollars and the investments are expected to provide job opportunities in the region.108
104 Mango, Türkiye’nin... [Turkey:...], p. 55.
105 Criss, "The Nature of...", p. 28.
106 As quoted from İller İtibariyle Çeşitli Göstergeler [Various Indications with Regard to the Provinces], a publication by State Planning Organization in Ali Rıza Kardüz, "Devlet Doğu’dan 1 Alıyor, 3 Veriyor " [State Gives 3 to the East and Takes 1], Sabah, 23 July 1993.
107 Kardüz, "State Gives...", Sabah, 23 July 1993.
108 Criss, "The Nature of...", p. 28. The General Directorate Of Press And Information Of The Turkish Republic, GAP-Southeast Anatolia Project, Introduction.