Tribal figure in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor criticizes international silence over Euphrates water cut off
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – On Tuesday, a spokesperson of tribal notables of the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria, criticized the international silence regarding Turkish violations in Syria and its seizure of the Euphrates River water.
“We denounce the international silence regarding the Turkish crimes and its seizure of the Euphrates water of out regions in northeast Syria,” spokesperson of the tribal notables of the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor Salah al-Salman said.
“The international position has become crucial now to stop Turkey from cutting off the Euphrates water,” he added.
Al-Salman stated that Turkey is cutting the Euphrates water to pressure the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and besiege the people of northeast Syria to force them to migrate, face hunger and displacement, and empty the region of its indigenous residents.
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 should be a minimum of 500 m³ per second.
The water flow to the Euphrates River is now limited to less than 200 cubic meters per second, according to the General Administration of Dams in Northeastern Syria.