This paper deals with policies to meet increasing energy demand for electricity from domestic energy sources in Turkey. A major dilemma now faced by Turkey is how to invest in new electric power capacity while at the same time adhering to foreign debt ceilings under lending rules set by the IMF. Turkey has a total gross hydropower potential of 433 GW, but only 125 GW of the total hydroelectric potential of Turkey can be economically used. By the commissioning of new hydropower plants, which are under construction, 36% of the economically usable potential of the country would be tapped. Sustainable development requires a balance between nature and mankind; through this balance, it programs for the life and development of both present and future generations without depleting natural resources. It is a concept that has social, ecological, economic, spatial, and cultural dimensions. In this meaning, as touched earlier, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (Turkish initials "GAP") had originally started as a land and water resources development effort and was later transformed into a multisectoral and integrated development project by the GAP Administration.
