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

ombings of water storage dams and HEP (hydro-electric power) dams have resulted in extensive damage of
water infrastructures such as purification plants and power stations. 41 Presently in Iraq the issue of food
shortages are being dealt with by importation and assistance from the International community (though not
effectively) and many areas are still severely plagued by the lack of drinking water and electricity as a
consequence of the war.
Hydropolitics and Hydrological Impacts on Regional Security
As infrastructural developments on the Tigris and Euphrates began to gather pace, especially in Turkey, they
triggered a series of incidents that did not erupt into the much-prophesied ‘water wars’ but certainly
exacerbated the security situation between all of the riparian states. They will be reviewed here in the order
reflecting countries whose trans-boundary water management practices first spilled into the security arena.
We begin, not surprisingly, upstream.
Turkey’s Keban Dam and Syria’s Lake Assad
The construction of the Keban Dam in the 1960’s provided the first sign of regional security stress linked to
water. After discussions with Syria, Turkey had agreed to release 350m 3 /s of Euphrates water to Syria but
there were complaints from Iraq that this was insufficient. When Turkey and Syria began to impound water
for eventually filling both the Keban and the Tabqa Dams in 1974-5, Iraq put up strong enough protest that it
resulted in Turkey’s application for funding to the World Bank being conditional to a release a minimum of
450m 3 /s. 42 It did not stop there. Iraq focussed their hostilities on Syria; not only because of the sharp
reduction of flow from the Euphrates from the Tabqa Dam that Iraq believed was theirs by right, but also
because of the growing enmity between the two Ba’athist regimes. 43
The dispute reached crisis proportions and in March and April of 1975 both Iraq and Syria mobilised troops
along their common borders and closed each other’s airspaces. It required Soviet and Saudi intervention to
mediate the situation and Syria finally agreed to release more water. 44
Turkey and the Attaturk Reservoir
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