Iraqi experts answer: For these reasons, Turkey plans to blockade Iraq by water
With Iran’s help, Turkey is leading a war on the water resources of the Arab region, specifically the countries bordering the two countries. Attempts to destabilize and destabilize security do not stop in order for them to gain more influence and hegemony over the region, especially Iraq and Syria. The two countries work to impose their control on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which originate in Lake Van in southeastern Turkey.
Turkish Aspiration
Turkey seeks to wage war for water in Iraq and Syria and control the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, said political and legal expert Ali al-Tamimi. Water security has become necessary for the Turkish regime to maintain its food security in light of the current global crises resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war, he said.
Al-Tamimi added: “Water has become a national security issue with the impossibility of planning agricultural projects without a permanent water abundance, especially since the water crisis between the countries bordering Turkey and Iran has been intensifying for some time now with Turkey insisting on building dams as well as Iran, whose land both rivers originate from”.
Al-Tamimi said Iraq has been living in a tragic situation over the past decades due to the decline in water imports from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This decline will continue after the Turkish Ilısu Dam on the Tigris River was completed.
Work on the Turkish project started in 1930, he said, and Turkish authorities began investigating and surveying hydrological data in late August 2006. The prime minister of Turkey then laid the foundation stone at a cost of $1.2 billion, just 50 kilometers from the Iraqi border.
Turkey-Iraq agreements binding
Iraqi political researcher Ihsan al-Shamari said: “The 1923 Lausanne Agreements between Turkey and its allies regulating water between riparian states keep neighboring countries intact”.
Al-Shamari noted that the Friendship and Good-Neighborly Agreements signed between Turkey and Iraq in 1946 and Protocol No. 1 attached thereto stipulate Turkey’s agreement to inform Iraq of any special projects it may decide to establish on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers or their tributaries to serve Turkish projects without harming Iraq’s interests.
The Protocol on Economic and Technical Cooperation between the two States signed in 1971, article 3, provides that the two parties shall, as soon as possible, start discussions on the common waters with the participation of all parties.
The tragic consequences of the operation of the dam
Al-Shamari said: “The tripartite ministerial meeting between Turkey, Syria and Iraq held in Antalya in 2007, at which the Turkish side pledged not to harm Iraq by building the Ilısu Dam and implementing an operational system for the dam and the power plant that preserves Iraq’s rights.
Al-Shamari added: If we know that the project’s implementation will lead to a decrease in the water incoming to Iraq at an average annual rate of 9.7 billion cubic meters, or 47% of the river’s water. The volume of the reservoir in the Turkish dam exceeds 11 billion cubic meters, which will lead to the diversion of land and sewage water and the destruction of Iraq’s agricultural infrastructure.
Al-Shamari said Turkey decided to ignore the principles of international law, which stipulate that if the international river passes through different regions, each state must exercise its sovereignty over what passes through its territory, while preserving the interests of other states and the need for watercourse states to be informed of all information, as well as to consult with each other to safeguard the rights of all.
