Political issues - Case of the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers

Political

The fact that these rivers flow across different states is a real threat because of water dependence in this region. The control of these rivers can be used as a weapon by upstream countries.

This region is a turbulent area : over the last century it knew two world wars and several armed conflicts which were not directly linked to water resources. Because of these political tensions and the lack of confidence, it was and is still tough for governments to co-operate over water. There isn’t a regional institution that can bring together countries over the economic and political issues.

The lack of reliable databases about water resources disturbs the management of these rivers.

Crisis

Until 1970 :
- Ottoman Empire prevented from possible conflicts, up to the end of the world war I.
- Iraq, the downstream country, was the bigger user of water whereas Turkey and Syria, upstream and midstream countries didn’t use it much. Thus, conflicts appeared when Turkey and Syria began to use these rivers in the 1960’s.

First crisis :
- 1965-75 Keban dam (Euphrates) in Turkey

- 1968 Tabaga al-Thawara dam (Euphrates) in Syria
- 1973-1975 : because of drought, Iraq blamed Syria from reducing the Euphrates’ flow while Syria did the same against Turkey. In 1974, Iraq threatened to drop bombs on the al-Thawara dam. It ended up with an agreement : 40% of the water were for Syria and 60% for Iraq.
- 1975 : Karababa dam (Euphrates) in Turkey

Second crisis :
- Turkey made up a lot of water development projects which are a threat for downstream countries.The GAP (Great Anatolian Project) is a project concerning the south of Anatolia in Turkey which aims at improving the living conditions of the local population. Many dams were and will be built to increase the hydroelectric production and the irrigation. So huge water quantities are used without anyone taking care of the downstream countries. For instance, in 1992, Turkey ended up the construction of the Ataturk dam : during one month, it used all the water from the Euphrates to fill the dam.