Syria, Iraq discuss Turkey’s decrease their water shares
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – In a virtual meeting yesterday, Ministers of Water Resources of both Syria and Iraq discussed the Turkish obstinacy regarding the reduction of water supply of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers towards Syria and Iraq.
During the meeting, the two parties discussed challenges tied to aquatic realty in both countries in general in addition to the negative impacts of the climate changes on it.
Syria and Iraq accused Turkey of reducing water supplies of both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers which negatively affected the water shares flow to the two countries.
Since the beginning of the year, 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.
Euphrates River’s drought in Syria will have direct impacts on Iraq, said Mahmoud Izzat Mahmoud, professor at Cihan University in Erbil, in May.
Syrian Minister of Water Resources, Tammam Ra’ad, called for the need of joint efforts, exchanging information and data, in addition to the technical and scientific contacts regarding the recent development on water issue in favor of the two countries.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Mahdi Rashid al-Hamdani, said his country is ready to cooperate with Syria for sake of finding a common solution for these circumstances and obstacles the two countries are going through.
Iraq is prepared to cooperate with Syrian experts in order to establish a research center in Baghdad and subject Syrian technicians to training courses in the field of groundwater, according to al-Hamdani.
Director of the National Center for Water Resources in Iraq has given a presentation on the evaluation of water quotas for Syria, Iraq and Turkey and the possible bases that could be applied to determine these quotas.
Al-Hamdani visited Syria, in July, in order to discuss means of cooperation between the two countries in fields of water, water resources, and unifying their stances in international forums in order to defend and preserve their rights of water quotas of the Euphrates and Tigris.
In May, an online meeting brought the two parties together.
As for Ra’ad, he paid a visit to Baghdad in March of 2021 in order to participate with a technical delegation in the first Baghdad International Water Conference entitled “Beneficial Planning and Management of Water Resources to Achieve Sustainability”