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Dangers of the Turkish dam “Aliso” on Iraq’s water resources
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Translated by IRAQdirectory.com - [2/13/2007]
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Iraq fired an intensive international campaign, to explain the dangers of dam ”Aliso” which the Turkish government intends to build on the Turkish Part of the river Tigris, and that will deprive thousands of hectares of Iraqi land from water.
Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Abdul Lateef Rasheed, said that his ministry asked the Cabinet and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain the Iraqi point of view to Turkish officials, as well as the negative effects of the Turkish irrigation projects of the Tigris’ water levels. He also discussed the developments of this matter with the Turkish Ambassador in Baghdad, and held a series of contacts with European officials, who expressed their understanding of Iraqi the concerns, and their willingness to participate in the debate around the matter until it is resolved.
He pointed out that “Aliso” is the largest among the dams on the Tigris and was a subject of considerable debate since bringing up the idea of building it at the end of the seventies of the last century; it would lead to the removal of important historical sites from the Assyrian, Roman and Ottoman civilizations. However, its negative effects on Iraq will be the largest , as the amount of water received via the Tigris will be significantly affected when the project is completed , and would control the determination of Iraq's share of the water and its deteriorating quality.
Rasheed pointed out that the natural water incoming of the Tigris at the Iraqi-Turkish border is 2093 billion cubic meters, but it will go down by 9.7 billion cubic meters in case of the implementation of the dam, which would have serious repercussions on Iraq in the fields of agriculture, drinking water and energy generation, and even more on projects related to the revitalization of the marshes and the environment.
He explained that the decrease in the quantities of water will also lead to the phenomenon of desertification, the spread of sand dunes and changes in the weather, in addition to the deterioration of natural grazing, the water quality and the increase of pollution. He warned of the results of the continuation of Turkey's policy which aims to build the largest number of dams; the giant dam “Aliso” is part of a series of dams that Turkey intends to build on the Tigris and Euphrates, designed to store as much water as possible in its territory, indifferent to depriving Syria and Iraq of sufficient quantities of water.
He pointed out that Iraq had not received sufficient information on the dam “Aliso” from the Turkish side, but knew about them through the media; this contradicts the treaties concluded between the two sides, the principles of the international law and its provisions which imposes on the countries upstream to notify downstream States with any activities they do, that can cause damage to the States associated with them in the same waterway. He pointed out that Iraq had no objection to the issue of developing southeastern Anatolia, but he would not agree to be at the expense of its historic rights.
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