Turkish, Syrian water projects well on the way to squeezing Iraq dry

In: Washington report on Middle East affairs, Band 23, Heft 4, S. 32-33

Abstract

The impact of water diversion projects in Turkey and Syria on Iraq are discussed. Iraq's current agricultural conditions are poor. It is alleged that this is due in large part to the depletion and degradation of its water supply caused by Syria's diversion of water from the Euphrates River and Turkey's diversion of water from the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers through its Guney Anadolu Projesi ("GAP" Project). The GAP, which has not been completed, was originally designed to provide power, but now functions to irrigate agricultural land and to further the populating of predominantly Kurdish and Arab areas with ethnic Turks. Prospects for destroying the GAP through military actions on the part of Iraq are also discussed.