hydropolitics of the tigris - euphrates river basin with - ceris.be

Seyhan dam), the politics of funding had changed in the post Cold-War environment. In the 1960’s when
Turkey announced its plans to construct the Keban dam, their largest dam to date, they automatically turned
to the World Bank and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). These institutions had an
established history of funding infrastructure projects but this had begun to change.
“Starting as early as 1950, the bank had developed a set of policy guidelines about the construction of dams
that it was being asked to finance. If a dam were to be situated on a river involving more than one state, the
bank would work to establish a balance between the water rights of all riparians and the benefits to be
derived from the realisation of the new project.” 19
Financing of GAP: Turkey versus The World
The World Bank statement, in this case, referred specifically to Syria and Iraq. Eventually the World Bank
agreed to contribute to funding the Keban Dam and later the Karakaya Dam projects but only on the
condition that a specified minimum flow was maintained for downstream users. 20 However Turkey persisted
in its unilateral approach to water projects without consulting downstream users, effectively closing this
source of funds. Turkey did manage to secure limited financial assistance from some Western governments
and Israel but it became apparent that Turkey would have to provide a large share of funding for GAP. There
were financial pressures and economic consequences as Turkey channelled billions of dollars into the
project. By 2002 almost $14 billion (USD) had been spent on GAP and most of this had come from Turkey.
This resulted in high inflation (70% in the early 1990’s), and up to 80% of the GDP being spent on public
debt. The Turkish Lira was also drastically devalued, almost 100% since the early 1990’s. 21
The Politics of GAP
The provinces being developed by GAP border on Syria and Iraq and are home to the ethnic population of
Kurds who also inhabit neighbouring territories in Syria and Iraq. The Kurds account for about half of the
population in the Anatolia region, with the remainder being Turkish and a small percent of Arabs. 22 As an
ethnic minority the Kurdish population has a natural suspicion of the Government. Within its ranks can be
found political components agitating for an independent Kurdish territory or Kurdistan. One of the best
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