Developments in the water problem between Iraq and Turkey 2002–2023

Abstract

Water wealth is one of the most important elements in nature and is of great importance in human life at all levels، water issues are among the most sensitive issues related to the national security and food security of countries. It is believed that the next war will be a water war in light of unstable international interactions، as the international environment has witnessed and continues to witness many issues، foremost among which is the scarcity of water. Researchers in various disciplines have endeavored to express the serious repercussions and grave effects of this phenomenon. Most future studies confirm that the world is facing a real crisis of freshwater scarcity in the coming years as a result of climatic، environmental، and political conditions represented by the policy of monopolization by upstream and downstream countries. The issue of water in the Middle East is of great importance، especially in Iraq because it is greatly affected by Turkey's determination of the amount of water flowing to it. Turkey has exploited this issue to achieve several ends، which led to disagreements and deterioration of relations between the two parties due to the lack of sufficient coordination and cooperation between the two countries، there is no common vision that guarantees a proportion of Iraq's interests by international water agreements. Therefore، the instability in the relationship between the upstream country Turkey، which controls and implements a water policy that serves its national interests in the security، political and economic spheres، continues especially since the water issue is one of the most prominent issues between Turkey and Iraq، which has been the subject of controversy since the eighties of the twentieth century and continues to this day. In light of the changing climatic conditions and the lack of rainfall in the region، especially Iraq، and as Turkey continues to expand its water projects، the water issue between Turkey and Iraq has come to the fore again following the decline in water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The renewed crisis between the two countries and the failure to resolve it during the past decades raises many questions about the real reasons that stood in the way of finding a solution to this issue and reaching radical solutions between the countries sharing the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers، without taking into account the interests of neighboring countries، especially Iraq، which resulted in water dependency. The Turkish policy of building dams and projects on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers، and the subsequent attempt to carry out a major economic، industrial، and agricultural development process in record time. In order to join the European Union، requires Turkey to correct its economy، which has been plagued by inflation and mismanagement. It has been able to achieve important economic steps in this field، and there is no doubt that the Turkish water policy aims to benefit from the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to the maximum extent by exploiting the waters of the two rivers in the future by continuing to build dams and projects، which in turn negatively affects Iraq's water share. Turkey is pursuing its dream of becoming a pivotal and dominant country regionally، which will affect the future relationship between Turkey and Iraq depending on the outcome of this policy.