TEL TAMR, Syria (North Press) – Hassan Younis, a mechanic in the industrial zone in the town of Tel Tamr, north of Hasakah, depends on electricity which has now been cut off due to Turkey’s seizure of the water of the Euphrates River.
Younis faces difficulties while working due to the outage of electricity. He depends on a generator, which is the only alternative.
“We depend on generators to get electricity. We run generators for two hours but they overheat, so we turn them off. We cannot afford to bring big generators; it is a disaster,” he told North Press.
In light of the continuation of the seizure of the Euphrates River water by the Turkish government and the increased rationing of electricity, the complaints of industrialists have increased due to the decline of business movement in the industrial zone of the town.
For months, Turkey has been decreasing the flow of the Euphrates River into Syria, which has caused shortages and cutoffs of drinking water, irrigation water, and electricity.
Tragic living
Tel Tamr receives electricity for between two and four hours per day at night, which mechanics cannot use.
“There has been no electricity for two months, and we do not have generators. If a customer comes, we send him to the blacksmiths, because they have generators,” mechanic Abdulwahhab al-Awad told North Press.
The Energy and Communications Office of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) announced that the work of the turbines to generate electricity will be limited to one turbine to feed mills, water stations, and furnaces.
The office attributed this decision to Turkey’s seizure of the Euphrates River water and the low levels of Tishreen and Tabqa Dams.
Since the beginning of the water crisis and Turkey’s decline of Syria’s share of the Euphrates’ water, the Syrian government has not interfered.
Currently, the AANES depends on Suwaydiya plant as the only source of energy in the Jazira region to compensate for the shortage of electricity.
Auto shop owner Mahmoud Khalil told North Press that “the business movement has decreased, and the situation has become tragic.”
“Previously, we used to wash a car for 500 Syrian pounds (SYP), while now it is 3,000 SYP, causing us loss as a result of the work decline due to people’s complaints regarding prices,” he added
He pointed out that now, people are relying on generators as an alternative; however, customers are affected due to the high price of goods.
“If this situation continues, we are heading into the unknown, as you see we are sitting in our workshops without working,” he said.
For more than three months, Turkey has limited the flow of the Euphrates into Syria, depriving large numbers of people of usable water. Turkey reduced the flow of water from the Euphrates River into northeast Syria’s dam gradually, reducing the amount of water received to unprecedented lows.
Turkey keeps water in six dams, the largest of which is Ataturk Dam, the second largest in the Middle East, with a storage capacity of 48 billion m³, violating the international agreement they signed with Syria in 1987 which stated that Syria’s share of water coming from Turkey is 500 m³ per second.
The water flow to the Euphrates River is now limited to less than 200 cubic meters, according to the General Administration of Dams in Northeastern Syria.