* Turkey says work on disputed dam could start next week * Dam would flood more than 80 villages in the southeast * Critics say project would bury sites in ancient town ANKARA, July 1 (Reuters) - Turkey vowed on Wednesday to resume work to build a disputed 1.2 billion euro dam on the Tigris river in its impoverished south-east and said suspension ordered by foreign backers would be lifted.German, Swiss and Austrian underwriters said last December they were halting work for 180 days on the Ilisu dam, which would flood ancient sites and displace thousands of Kurdish residents, because it failed to meet international standards. The Tigris river flows from Turkey into Iraq, which already suffers from frequent droughts and opposes the loss of further water from upriver dams. Turkish Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu told a news conference on Wednesday the suspension, which expires this month, would be lifted and work could start next week. Energy-hungry Turkey, which is seeking European Union membership, began work in 2006 on the power plant whose dam on the Tigris river will bury part of the ancient town of Hasankeyf and force the relocation of thousands of people. The German, Austrian and Swiss governments had said the project must meet some 150 conditions affecting the environment, relocation, cultural heritage and neighbouring states. A spokeswoman for the Swiss Economy Ministry said: "The [suspension] period lasts until July 6. Switzerland is still examining the issue and will decide together with Germany and Austria on how to proceed." Officials of those countries were not immediately available for comment. Austrian and Swiss creditors of the project are state owned, while Euler Hermes <ELER.PA> is majority-owned by Germany's Allianz <ALVG.DE>. The Ilisu plant, with a planned power capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW) to generate 3.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year, is part of a $32 billion plan to develop Turkey's economically underdeveloped southeast and east. Environmentalists and historians say almost all of the famous ruins that attract tourists to Hasankeyf would be buried under a dam for the plant on the Tigris river. Hasankeyf was used by the Romans as a fortress to ward off Persians. The town was later destroyed by Mongolians and rebuilt in the 11th century by Seljuk Turks. According to plans, the ruins would be moved to a nearby area, yet the project would still swallow up more than 80 villages and hamlets by the time of its planned completion in 2013. Turkey is heavily dependant on gas imports for its electricity generation but is looking to boost its own electricity production. (Reporting by Hatice Aydogdu in Ankara and Sven Egenter in Zurich; writing by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Pisek residents watch from the medieval Stone Bridge as rising waters flow past a sand sculpture on a bank of Otava river June 28, 2009. Heavy rains swept the southern Czech ...
