Water: Turkey, Syria and Iraq

Question 1

Turkey

Answer 1

Rainfall is abundant, however there is regional variations which lead to summer droughts in the southeast and shortages in the capital

This has forced the government to spend US$32 billion GAP project.

Question 2

GAP project aims

Answer 2

attempted to improve income in the least developed part of Turkey (Anatolia) by developing an integrated water and energy supply system.

construct 22 dams, 19 hydro-electric power plants and two water transfer tunnels

provide irrigation for 1.7million hectares (20% of Turkey’s cultivable land)

diversify agriculture into cash crops

stop the migration of young people from the region (by increasing jobs and improving education and health facilities)

help the southeast Anatolian economy to grow by 400%

help the Turkish economy as a whole to grow by 12%

Question 3

conflict

Answer 3

There is potential conflict of the GAP project with Turkey’s neighbours, Syria and Iraq, because it involved damming two more rivers which provide both countries with much of their water. Turkey agreed to release water fro Syria but not Iraq (at a rate agreed by international law). The damming of the rivers has been projected to stop the rivers reaching the sea by 2040 because of a combination of dam activity and climate change.