Syria seeks to pressure Turkey over Euphrates water
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – On Tuesday, Minister of Water Resources in the Syrian government Tamam Raad talked about efforts through communicating “with friendly countries and international organizations to pressure the Turkish regime to back down from its measures” regarding water.
For more than three months, Turkey has been holding water in six dams, the largest of which is the Ataturk Dam, the second largest dam in the Middle East, with a storage capacity of 48 billion cubic meters, in violation of the international agreement.
According to the 1987 agreement signed between Damascus and Ankara regarding the Euphrates River, Syria’s share of water coming from Turkey is no less than 500 cubic meters per second on average, equivalent to 2,500 barrels.
The Euphrates River water is now limited to less than 200 cubic meters per second, according to the General Administration of Dams in Northeast Syria.
The Syrian minister discussed with his Iraqi counterpart Mahdi Rashid al-Hamdani developments related to Turkey’s seizure of the Euphrates water, which has led to the deprivation of the downstream countries of Syria and Iraq from the water of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, according to what was reported by Syrian state-controlled news agency SANA.
According to SANA, the meeting took place through video technology, and the two ministers stressed “joint efforts to pressure the Turkish regime to stop its measures on the two rivers.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the sheikhs and notables of the Syrian Raqqa tribes said that the residents of northeast Syria are on the verge of disaster that will affect all aspects of life due to the Euphrates River.