Turkey promises Iraq double water supply
The Associated Press reports that Turkey’s President Abdullah Gül promised his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talibani to double the amount of water allocated to Iraq from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The announcement followed two days of talks during Gul’s visit to Baghdad, the first in 33 years by a Turkish head of state, on what is a key issue for drought-hit Iraq.
Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said: “He explained that the drought last year had affected the amount of water for Iraq and Syria, but this year sufficient water would see supply being doubled.”
Although Iraqis will undoubtedly be thrilled with the news, Turks are likely to worry; they have suffered major water shortages for many years in a row now. When Turks try to take a shower in the Summer, they have to be quick because before they know the water is cut off and they are left standing with shampoo in their hair.
The above isn’t merely normal in towns in the middle of nowhere, it happens frequently in the country’s major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir as well. The water is sometimes cut off for a few hours, sometimes longer. This while the heat is sometimes unbearable. Obviously, farmers face far more serious problems due to the lack of water.
In order to do something about the problem, Turkey built dams in major rivers like the Tigris and the Euphrates. As a result, however, Iraq has suffered.
It is a difficult balancing act for Ankara. On the one hand, Turks cannot be expected to sacrifice themselves for their neighbors, but on the other hand one cannot expect said neighbors to take it all lying down either.
Years ago, some experts said that future wars could be waged due to water shortages; water would, these individuals said, become a main reason for war in certain parts of the world. Although this has not come true thus far, the shortages in Turkey, Iraq and Syria give me the impression it could most certainly become a major issue.
A similar thing did happen before – Saddam dammed up the rivers and cut off water to the marshes in order to force the marsh Arabs out of their ancestral homes.
Even in the US, there is a huge water problem because the biggest population boom in the SW area of the country, which is mostly desert. Many industrial nations, such as the US and Turkey, are going to have to face the fact that eventually they will either need to invest in huge desalination plants, or they need to cut down their population growth.