Istanbul - Turkey has decided to begin work on the controversial Ilisu dam in the country's south-east without international funds, the country's minister of environment was quoted Tuesday by local media.

Turkey would finance the project from its own resources, Minister Veysel Eroglu was quoted by the daily Radikal as saying.

International credits for the project had been at risk because of breaches against environmental obligations and a lack of adequate resettlement plan for a nearby community.

Meanwhile, internationally renown Turkish novelist and government critic Yasar Kemal joined critics of the project, saying that it threated the archeologically important city of Hasankeyf, which he called a "world heritage."

Nobel Prize winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and Turkish pop singer Tarkan have also come out vehemently against the dam.

A 300-square-kilometre lake would be created by the 1820-metre long, 135-metre high Ilisu dam, which would flood not only Hasankeyf but a village of more than 10,000 people.

The Turkish government says the dam would produce an increase in agricultural development as well as energy. (dpa)