“Despite all domestic and foreign plots, today Turkey has the power of and is currently conducting such an extensive project without begging somebody else and with its own resources, means and labour,” said Minister of Finance Mehmet Simsek in respect of Ilısu Dam Project. Simsek, who attended the ceremony which was held for Ilısu Dam and hydroelectric power plant (HES) river diversion operation in the district of Dargecit with the Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs, Veysel Eroglu, thanked, in Kurdish and in Turkish, those who contributed to the project in his speech. Simsek indicated that a new threshold had been overcome in an important project bearing economic and strategic dimensions for Turkey. Simsek, stating that the diversion tunnels would enter into service and the construction of the dam would be accelerated from then on, delivered that it was aimed to be finished by the end of June 2014.