Hasankeyf

· For centuries people here have used the hollows in the high sandstone cliffs to built safe dwellings. Today, we are told, only two families live in this fashion, the rest living in an adjoining town where houses are constructed from bricks made from the same golden and tan sandstone.
· The setting is dramatic and ancient feeling. The village and caves sit on a sharply rising hill and cliffside overlooking and running away in deep rocky valleys from the Tigris River. Along the river, the cliff, perhaps some 200 metres high, seems to be sliced off vertically as if it were a great block of amber cheese. On its highest point, above the dwellings and towering over the river are the remains of an early 15thC fortress and Byzantine church.
· In the midday heat we climb up one valley, then up the hillside nearest the river, peering into the empty dwellings, many of which have been enlarged with mud brick walls curving out from the rock face. Inside are hollowed out chambers and alcoves, bedrooms and storage for food and household goods. Later we have lunch sitting on kilim pillows in one of many makeshift platform restaurants (cardak, leafy room shelter) standing over the Tigris, small grills being used to barbeque fish and lamb, salads and water coming from coolers.
· The future here is uncertain. Plans have been well underway to flood the wide, deep valley that’s home to Hasankeyf and many other villages, all part of huge irrigation and hydro projects across southeastern Turkey. The mayor has been leading an international campaign against the flooding of his town and the ancient cave homes, and recently international financiers have backed off. The government, however, seems determined to go ahead, regardless.