Related: Occupation Iraq: Country in Crisis
"Turkey moves to ease water dispute with neighbors" by Suzan Fraser, Associated Press | September 4, 2009
ANKARA, Turkey - .... Drought-stricken Iraq has accused upstream neighbors Turkey and Syria of taking too much from the rivers and their tributaries. Below-average rainfall and insufficient water in the two rivers have left Iraq parched for a second straight year, wrecking wide swaths of farmland and threatening drinking water supplies....
Also see: Occupation Iraq: Maliki Drains the Marshes
The drought has also dealt a blow to Iraq’s hopes that reductions in sectarian violence over the last year would fuel an economic recovery. Instead, lower-than-expected oil prices have crimped government revenues, and the scarcity of water is forcing Iraq to spend money to import wheat and rice to meet domestic demand....
“It is very important, and Iraq is already getting much less water due to some dams constructed in Turkey and Syria,’’ said Nagesh Kumar, a water specialist at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. “There is potential for international conflict in this region on water disputes.’’
Great. WATER WARS on top of OIL WARS! I thought the two did not mix.
In a change of heart, Turkey said yesterday that it would strive to increase the amount of water it releases to Syria and Iraq through the historic Tigris and Euphrates rivers but warned that it, too, was suffering from a severe drought.
Hours earlier Turkey’s energy minister, Taner Yildiz, had said his country was already too overstretched with water and power demands and could not raise the flow of water any further.
Water disputes threaten to disrupt the recently improved relations between Turkey and its neighbors and complicate wider efforts to bring stability to the region, as the populations of the three countries increase and the demand for water grows....
Unless you don't want stability brought to the region.
--more--"
