Southeastern Anatolia Project

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The Southeastern Anatolia Project (Turkish: Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi, GAP) is a multi-sector integrated regional development project based on the concept of sustainable development for the 9 million people (2023) living in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey. According to the Southeastern Anatolia Project Regional Development Administration, the aim of the GAP is to eliminate regional development disparities by raising incomes and living standards and to contribute to the national development targets of social stability and economic growth by enhancing the productive and employment generating capacity of the rural sector.The Southeastern Anatolia Region extending over wide plains in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin encompass the administrative provinces of ( Adıyaman, Batman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Kilis, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Şırnak and Mardin )which are located in the basins of the Euphrates and Tigris and in Upper Mesopotamia. The surface area of the region bordering with Syria to the south and with Iraq to the southeast is 75,193 square kilometres which corresponds to 9.7% of Turkey’s total surface area.^[1] Turkey has in total 8.5 million hectares of irrigable land and GAP’s share in this total is 20 per cent.The total cost of the project is over 190 billion Turkish lira (TL) (2020 adjusted price).^[2]

Within the scope of GAP, the construction of 22 dams, 19 hydroelectric power plants and irrigation networks is planned. With the completion of GAP, it is envisaged that 1.8 million hectares of land will be opened to irrigation and a large part of the country's energy needs will be met with 27 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric energy production annually. It is aimed to bring the economic and social indicators of the Region to the country average and to increase the welfare level of the people of the Region through investments in agriculture, industry, energy, transportation, education, health, rural and urban infrastructure. It is a regional development project with international brand value, aiming to increase the income level and quality of life of our people living in this region by utilizing resources, eliminating interregional differences and contributing to economic development and social stability targets at the national level.

GAP contributes to the country's hydroelectric energy production. As of 2019, 14 hydroelectric power plants (HEPPs) have been completed; A physical realization rate of 91.2% was achieved in GAP energy investments. With the HEPPs put into operation, an annual electricity production capacity of 20.6 billion kilowatt-hours has been created in the Region. From the commissioning of hydroelectric power plants until the end of 2019, 473.3 billion kilowatt-hours of electrical energy were produced, and the monetary value of this energy produced is 28.4 billion dollars (1 kWh = 6 cents). GAP's share in the 88.9 billion kilowatt-hours of hydraulic energy produced throughout the country in 2019 is 25.6% with 22.8 billion kilowatt-hours.

Within the scope of GAP, 19 dams have been completed so far. Very important developments have been achieved in irrigation investments, which constitute the main axis of the Southeastern Anatolia Project and are the main condition for the completion of GAP. Within the scope of GAP, dams, which are water storage structures, were initially built and hydroelectric power plants were established. The second step is the construction of main channels that will carry the stored water to irrigation areas, and then irrigation networks that will distribute it to the fields.

During the plan period, the construction of irrigation main channels was carried out; A total of 1,497.1 km of main canals were made ready for service, 1,263.6 km of which were in the 2008-2019 period. At the end of 2019, the area opened to irrigation reached 571,591 hectares; The irrigation target of the plan was achieved by 54%. As of 2019, network construction to irrigate an area of 130,597 ha is ongoing.

The labor force participation rate throughout the region was 34% in 2007, 46.1% in 2019, and the employment rate was 28.3% in 2007 and 35.7% in 2019.

There has been a remarkable increase in the level of exports from the GAP Region in recent years, and the export amount, which was 3.3 billion dollars in 2007, increased to 9.2 billion dollars in 2019; The share of exports from the Region in the country's exports increased from 3.1% to 5.3%.

In the region, there has been an increase in schooling rates at all levels of education and a slight improvement has been achieved in the number of students per classroom. While the number of students per classroom in primary education was 33 in Turkey in the 2007-2008 academic year, it decreased to 24 with an improvement of 9 units as of 2018-2019, and while it was 46 in the GAP Region, it decreased to 30 with an improvement of 16 units.

With the 6 universities established in the GAP Region after 2006, nine provinces also have universities. During the plan period, 2 billion TL was allocated to universities, especially newly established ones, and support was given to the development of their physical and human infrastructure. 10 institutes were established to provide master's and doctoral education. The number of programs and the number of students accepted to the university have increased, and students have had the opportunity to study under more modern conditions.

While there were 96 hospitals and a total of 9,980 beds in the Region in 2007, the number of hospitals increased to 130 and the number of beds increased to 20,541 in 2018. As of these years, the increase in the number of hospitals throughout the country was 20.3% and the increase in the number of beds was 52.5%, while the increase in the GAP Region was 35.4% and 105.8%, respectively. Thus, the number of hospital beds per ten thousand people increased to 23.2.

The transportation infrastructure of the Region, which provides access to other regions, ports, neighboring countries and provinces within the region, and affects economic and social development and trade, has been improved and strengthened in every aspect - with road network, airline and railway investments. All main roads connecting the provinces in the Region have been completed as divided roads, a highway connection has been established and air transportation has been provided to all provinces with 8 airports.

The road network in the GAP Region reached 6,592 km as of the end of 2018. The highway network has reached 294 km and the divided road network has reached 2,386 km. Turkey's largest cargo airport is in Şanlıurfa. New terminal buildings were built in Batman and Adıyaman, Şırnak Şerafettin Elçi Airport was opened in 2013, and Diyarbakır Airport New Terminal Building was opened in 2015.^[3]