Evolution of transboundary politics in the Euphrates-tigris river system: New perspectives and political challenges

Global Governance

Volumn 19, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 279-305

  Kibaroglu, Aysegul ^a   Scheumann, Waltina ^b  

^a OKAN UNIVERSITY   (Turkey)

^b GERMAN DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE   (Germany)

Author keywords

Conflict; Cooperation; Euphrates Tigris rivers; Iraq; Syria; Transboundary water politics; Turkey; Water bureaucracies

Indexed keywords

EID: 84877283655     PISSN: 10752846     EISSN: 19426720     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/19426720-01902008     Document Type: Article

References (98)

1. Iran is also a riparian in that it contributes between 9.7 and 11.2 km3 of water a year to the Tigris through its tributaries in the north and between 20 and 24.8 km3 to the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which unites the Tigris and the Euphrates through the Kharun River. See Food and Agriculture Organization, Water Reports 34, Irrigation in the Middle East Region in Figures, Aquastat Survey (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization, 2008).
2. For details of the geographical characteristics of the Euphrates and Tigris river system, see Aysegul Kibaroglu, Building a Regime for the Waters of the Euphrates and Tigris River Basin (London: Kluwer Law International, 2002).
3. see also Aysegul Kibaroglu and Waltina Scheumann, Euphrates-Tigris River System: Political Rapprochement and Transboundary Water Cooperation, " in Aysegul Kibaroglu, Waltina Scheumann, and Annika Kramer, eds., Turkey's Water Policy (New York: Springer Verlag, 2011).
4. N. Kliot, Water Resources and Conflict in the Middle East (London: Routledge, 1994).
5. P. Beaumont, "The Euphrates River: An International Problem of Water Resources Development, " Environmental Conservation 5 (1978): 35-43.
6. O. Bilen, "Prospects for Technical Cooperation in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin, " in A. K. Biswas, ed., International Waters of the Middle East: From Euphrates-Tigris to Nile (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).
7. See also M. L. Belül, "Hydropolitics of the Euphrates-Tigris Basin" (master's thesis, Middle East Technical University, 1996), p. 67.
8. John F. Kolars and William A. Mitchell, The Euphrates River and Southeast Anatolia Development Project (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991).
9. K. Ubell, "Iraq's Water Resources, " Nature and Resources 7 (1971): 3-9.
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11. M. Shahin, "Review and Assessment of Water Resources in the Arab World, " Water International 14 (1989): 206-219.
12. Iraq also has a limited amount of groundwater, but it is a shrinking source because withdrawals far exceed natural discharge rates. See UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Water Assessment Program, "Water Resources in Iraq: Quick Facts" (on file with the authors). See also S. Murthy, "Iraq's Constitutional Mandate to Justly Distribute Water: The Implications of Federalism, Islam, International Law and Human Rights, " George Washington International Law Review 52 (2011): 752.
13. M. Daoudy, The Water Divide Between Syria, Turkey and Iraq, Negotiation, Security and Power Asymmetry (Paris: CNRS Editions, 2005).
14. Aysegul Kibaroglu and O. Unver, "An Institutional Framework for Facilitating Cooperation in the Euphrates-Tigris River Basin, " International Negotiation: A Journal of Theory and Practice 5 (2000): 312.
15. See Belül, "Hydropolitics of the Euphrates-Tigris Basin. "
16. "The Treaty of Friendship and Good Neighbourly Relations Between Iraq and Turkey, Protocol on Flow Regulation of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and of Their Tributaries, " United Nations, Legislative Texts and Treaty Provisions Concerning the Utilisation of International Rivers for Other Purposes than Navigation, UN/Doc. ST/LEG/SER. B/12 (1963).
17. International Water Power and Dam Construction 44 (1992):12.
18. A. Richards and J. Waterbury, A Political Economy of the Middle East (Boulder: Westview, 1990).
19. R. Hinnebusch, Peasant and Bureaucracy in Baathist Syria (Boulder: Westview, 1989).
20. K. McLachlan, The South-East Anatolia Project (GAP) and Its Effect on Water Supply and Management in Iraq (London: University of London, 1991).
21. J. A. Allan, Agricultural Sector in Iraq (London: University of London, 1990).
22. In hydrological terms, Turkey has twenty-five large river basins exhibiting a wide variation of average annual precipitation, evaporation, and surface run-off parameters. The Tigris-Euphrates basin is the largest and has great potential for the development of natural resources. See S. Tigrek and Aysegul Kibaroglu, "Euphrates-Tigris River System: Political Rapprochement and Transboundary Water Cooperation, " in Aysegul Kibaroglu, Waltina Scheumann, and Annika Kramer, eds., Turkey's Water Policy (New York: Springer Verlag, 2011).
23. H. Meliczek, "Land Settlement in the Euphrates Basin of Syria, " in Land Reform: Land Settlement and Cooperatives (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization, 1987).
24. J. A. Allan, Agricultural Sector in Iraq (London: University of London, 1990), pp. 1-2.
25. See Kibaroglu and Unver, "An Institutional Framework for Facilitating Cooperation, " pp. 311-330.
26. See J. Cooley, "The War over Water, " Foreign Policy 54(1984): 3-26.
27. T. Naff and R. Matson, Water in the Middle East: Conflict or Cooperation (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1984).
28. J. R. Starr and D. C. Stoll, US Foreign Policy on Water Resources in the Middle East (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, December 1987).
29. J. R. Starr, "Water Wars, " Foreign Policy 82 (Spring 1991): 17-36.
30. J. Bulloch and A. Darwish, Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East (1993). These authors were among the first to draw attention to the conflicts in the Euphrates-Tigris basin.
31. see, for example, Kibaroglu and Unver, "An Institutional Framework for Facilitating Cooperation, " pp. 311-330.
32. Kibaroglu, Building a Regime for the Waters.
33. Disputes over this province emerged in the 1930s when, following a plebiscite held at the end of the French mandate, Hatay became part of Turkey, although this was disputed by Syria. See M. Kibaroglu and Aysegul Kibaroglu, Global Security Watch Turkey: A Reference Handbook (Westport, CN: Praeger Security International, 2009).
34. See M. Benli Altunisik and O. Tur, "From Distant Neighbors to Partners? Changing Syrian-Turkish Relations, " Security Dialogue 37 (2006): 232-234.
35. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Water Issues Between Turkey, Syria and Iraq, Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs 1 (1996): 105.
36. Kibaroglu, Building a Regime for the Waters.
37. The regional context in which water issues may or may not lead to interstate conflict, and the role that nonwater issues played (i.e., territorial claims, support for separatist movements, security issues in general) are analyzed, for example, by N. Beshorner, "Water and Instability in the Middle East, " Adelphi Paper No. 273 (Winter 1992/93) (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies).
38. W. Scheumann, "The Euphrates Issue in Turkish-Syrian Relations, " in H. G. Brauch, P. H. Liotta, S. Marquina, P. F. Rogers, M. El-Sayed Selim, eds., Security and Environment in the Mediterranean: Conceptualising Security and Environmental Conflicts (Berlin: Springer, 2003).
39. F. M. Lorenz and E. J. Erickson, "The Euphrates Triangle: Security Implications of the Southeastern Anatolia Project" (Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1999).
40. G. Kut, "Burning Waters: The Hydropolitics of the Euphrates and Tigris, " New Perspectives on Turkey 9 (1993): 5.
41. Kibaroglu, Building a Regime for the Waters.
42. See ILA, Report of the Fifty-second Conference Held at Helsinki, 484 et seq. (1966).
43. UN General Assembly Res. 51/229 (21 May 1997) (Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses).
44. For further details on the Three-Stage Plan, see Kibaroglu, Building a Regime for the Waters.
45. P. A. Williams, "Turkey's Water Diplomacy: A Theoretical Discussion, " in Aysegul Kibaroglu, Waltina Scheumann, and Annika Kramer, eds., Turkey's Water Policy (New York: Springer Verlag), pp. 197-214.
46. The final communiqués of the sixteen Joint Technical Committee meetings were reviewed with the permission of officials of the State Hydraulic Works and revealed the above arguments (on file with the authors).
47. For the incentives for cooperation resulting from the linking of intersectoral and intrawater sector issues, see D. G. LeMarquand, International Rivers: The Politics of Cooperation (Vancouver: Westwater Research Center, University of British Columbia, 1977).
48. I. Dombrowsky, "The Role of Intra-water Sector Issue Linkage in the Resolution of Transboundary Water Conflicts, " Water International 35, no. 2 (2010): 132-149.
49. Protocol on Matters Pertaining to Economic Cooperation Between the Republic of Turkey and the Syrian Arab Republic, United Nations Treaty Series 87/12171, 17/7/1987.
50. Scheumann, "The Euphrates Issue. "
51. Law No. 14 of 1990, ratifying the joint minutes concerning the provisional division of the waters of the Euphrates River. See http://ocid.nacse.org/qml/research /tfdd/toTFDDdocs/257ENG.htm (accessed 30 May 2010).
52. M. Schiffler, "International Water Agreements: A Comparative View, " in W. Scheumann and M. Schiffler, eds., Water in the Middle East: Potential for Conflicts and Prospects for Cooperation (New York: Springer, 1998), pp. 31-45.
53. J. Barnes, "Managing the Waters of Ba'th Country: The Politics of Water Scarcity in Syria, " Geopolitics 14 (2009): 510-530.
54. L. M. Harris, "Water and Conflict Geographies of the Southeastern Anatolia Project, " Society and Natural Resources 15 (2002): 743-759.
55. M. Ahmad, "Agricultural Policy Issues and Challenges in Iraq: Short-and Medium-term Options, " in Kamil A. Mahdi, ed., Iraq's Economic Predicament (Reading, UK: Ithaca Press, 2001).
56. Scheumann, "The Euphrates Issue. "
57. A Joint Communiqué Between the Republic of Turkey, Prime Ministry, Southeastern Anatolia Project Regional Development Administration (GAP) and the Arab Republic of Syria, Ministry of Irrigation, General Organization for Land Development, 23 August 2001, Ankara, Turkey (on file with the authors).
58. R. Durth has argued that the level of political and economic integration may make a difference to the degree of cooperation. In nonintegrated regions, such as that of the Euphrates-Tigris basin states, cooperation would be hampered by differing perceptions of justice and equity while cooperation in integrated regions (e.g., the European Union, North America) would be facilitated by a changing role of governments and the participation of the private sector in river management surpassing the narrow confines of foreign relations. Cross-border information flows are no longer controlled by governments and contacts also exist at the nongovernmental or private sector level (e.g., the Rhine and the Great Lakes). R. Durth, "European Experience in the Solution of Cross-border Environmental Problems, " Intereconomics (March/April 1996): 62-68.
59. The Orontes River (Asi) rises in Lebanon and flows through Syria and Turkey. Turkey is the riparian farthest downstream in the river basin and faces chronic water shortages due to prolonged droughts as well as the devastating impacts of intermittent flooding. Since the early 1960s, Turkey has called for the Orontes to be included in its water negotiations with Syria. For this purpose, Turkey has set up a division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take charge of "regional waters, " including the Euphrates-Tigris river basin and the Orontes. However, Syria continues to refuse to discuss the Orontes, claiming that it is a national river because Hatay (Alexandretta) belongs to Syria even though it became part of Turkey following a plebiscite in the early 1930s.
60. "Iraq, Turkey Want to Integrate Economies, Transform Mideast, " Today's Zaman, E-Gazette, 18 September 2009, www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_get NewsById.action;jsessionid=0AB3CF80095212C8485703CB890052F3?newsId=187 456.
61. While water rights and water allocation in a transboundary context are difficult aspects, some authors advocate benefit sharing as a concept, which implies a change from the mere volumetric allocation of water to the allocation of the benefits derived from the use of the river. See C. W. Sadoff and D. Grey, "Beyond the River: The Benefits of Cooperation on International Rivers, " Water Policy 4, no. 5 (2002): 389-403.
62. C. W. Sadoff and D. Grey, "Cooperation on International Rivers: A Continuum for Securing and Sharing Benefits, " Water International 30 (2005): 420-427.
63. A. Klaphake, "Kooperation an internationalen Flüssen aus ökonomischer Sicht: das Konzept des Benefit Sharing, " Discussion Paper No. 6/2005 (Bonn: German Development Institute, 2005).
64. I. Dombrowsky, "Revisiting the Potential for Benefit Sharing in the Management of Transboundary Rivers, " Water Policy 11, no 2 (2009): 125-149.
65. See A. T. Wolf, "Criteria for Equitable Allocations: The Heart of International Water Conflict, " Natural Resources Forum 23, no. 3 (1999): 30.
66. C. Sadoff and D. Grey, "Cooperation on International Rivers: Continuum for Securing and Sharing Benefits, " Water International 30, no. 4 (2005): 420-427.
67. Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Joint Statement of the Second Ministerial Meeting of the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council Between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Turkey, 2-3 October 2010, Lattakia, " www.mfa.gov.tr/joint-statement-of-the-second-ministerial-meeting-of-the.en.mfa.
68. "Turkey, Syria Renew Diplomatic Pledges, " Hürriyet Daily News, 21 December, 2010, www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-and-syria-gathered-8220 intergovernmental-cabinet8221-in-ankara-2010-12-21.
69. However, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's two-day official visit to Iraq on 29-31 March 2011 is considered as a milestone and included some follow-up to the forty-eight MoUs on more comprehensive economic integration signed during his visit to Iraq on 15 October 2009. Before flying to Baghdad, Erdogan is reported as saying: "Our aim is to turn the Mesopotamian basin into a joint area of stability and welfare through a wide spectrum of projects, from energy to trade, from health to construction and from water resources to transportation. " "Erdogan Says Turkey to Make Mesopotamia Prosperity Region, " 3 March 2011, http://merryabla64.word press.com/tag/recep-tayyip-erdogan-iraq-visit.
70. See www.mfa.gov.tr/relations-between-turkey%E2%80%93syria.en.mfa.
71. Nermin Cicek, senior expert, Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, interviewed by A. Kibaroglu, Ankara, Turkey, 28 October 2011.
72. The Memorandum of Understanding Between the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Water Resources of the Republic of Iraq on Water, 15 October 2009 (on file with the authors).
73. The Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic for the Construction of a Joint Dam on the Orontes River Under the Name "Friendship Dam, " 23 December 2009 (on file with the authors).
74. Although the details of the dam will be set out in the feasibility study, it is expected to be approximately 15 m high and have a water storage capacity of 110 million m3. Of that total, 40 million m3 will be used to prevent flooding and the rest for energy production and irrigation.
75. Arpacay Dam between Turkey and Armenia (formerly part of the Soviet Union) built in 1986, and the Lesotho Highlands Project between South Africa and Lesotho are two examples of such ventures.
76. The Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic on the Establishment of a Pumping Station in the Territories of the Syrian Arab Republic for Water Withdrawal From the Tigris River, 23 December 2009 (on file with the authors).
77. In 2002, Syria and Iraq signed a bilateral agreement on the installation of a Syrian pumping station on the Tigris River for irrigation purposes. The quantity of water drawn annually from the Tigris, when the flow of water is within the average, will be 1.25 billion m3 with a drainage capacity proportional to the projected surface of 150,000 ha. Turkish officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Hydraulic Works, personal communication with A. Kibaroglu, Ankara, 10 January 2010.
78. The Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in the Field of Efficient Utilization of Water Resources and Coping with Drought.
79. The Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in the Field of Remediation of Water Quality, 23 December 2009 (on file with the authors). "Joint Statement of the First Meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council Between Syria and Turkey, " 24 December 2009, Syrian Arab News Agency.
80. In June 2011, the MoEF was reorganized and renamed the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs. See www.ormansu.gov.tr.
81. Since the mid-2000s, a number of laws and bylaws have been adopted in Turkey on environmental protection and water quality management in the domestic, agricultural, and industrial sectors. This legal reorientation has been guided basically by the European Union's water legislation within the framework of the accession process.
82. The Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in the Field of Remediation of Water Quality, 23 December 2009.
83. Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, interviewed by A. Kibaroglu, Ankara, 19 April 2011.
84. The three states scheduled the following meeting of the JTC for January 2010 in Baghdad. It was postponed, however, due to parliamentary elections in Iraq and to long delays in the formation of a government in Iraq. The meeting was again postponed because of the unrest in Syria and the election period in Turkey in June 2011.
85. Officials of the State Hydraulic Works, Ministry of the Environment and Forestry, interviewed by A. Kibaroglu, 10 March 2010, Ankara.
86. George Soumi, minister of irrigation, interviewed by A. Kibaroglu, Damascus, Syria, 11 November 2010.
87. This section is drawn mainly from Aysegul Kibaroglu, "The Role of Epistemic Communities in Offering New Cooperation Frameworks in the Euphrates-Tigris Rivers System, " Journal of International Affairs 61, no. 2 (2008): 191-195.
88. P. M. Haas, "Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination, " International Organization 46 (1992): 13.
89. As a spinoff from a project conducted by the International Center for Peace at the University of Oklahoma, some Iraqi, Syrian, and Turkish participants in the project decided to launch a cooperation initiative in collaboration with the University of Oklahoma and Kent State University. See www.ou.edu/ipc/etic.
90. Summary statement presented at the conclusion of the Twelfth World Water Congress, 26 November 2005, New Delhi.
91. ETIC Newsletter 1, No. 3, ETIC workshop synthesis document, World Water Week, Swedish International Water Institute, Stockholm, 21 August 2006 (on file with the authors).
92. In 2006, the ETIC organized a training program on dam safety in collaboration with the UNESCO for professionals from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. In March 2009, it arranged a Workshop on Knowledge Technology in Gaziantep, Turkey, for participants from Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. ETIC's most recent training workshop "Geographical Information Systems and their implementation in natural resources management" was held in Aleppo in January 2010.
93. ETIC has been undertaking a research activity known as "Collaborative Planning and Knowledge Development in the Tigris-Euphrates Region. " The stakeholders in this activity are Iraqi, Syrian, and Turkish university faculty members (on file with the authors).
94. ETIC Newsletter 1, no. 4 (2006) (on file with the authors).
95. Charles Hermann, "Changing Course: When Governments Choose to Redirect Foreign Policy, " International Studies Quarterly 34 (1990): 3-21.
96. Charles Hermann, "Changing Course: When Governments Choose to Redirect Foreign Policy, " International Studies Quarterly 34 (1990): 3-21.
97. Domestic and industrial water supply has never played a significant role in terms of volumes extracted from the rivers.
98. In May 2012, ETIC convened the "International Conference on Advancing Cooperation in the Euphrates-Tigris Region" in Istanbul, together with Turkey's Okan University and Germany's Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. The conference brought together regional and international scholars and the riparian bureaucracies (water technocrats) who have shown their willingness to preserve and develop relations, which was encouraged by the political will that was initially shown. They in fact perceived water as a technical and vital issue and as a medium of cooperation, a uniting rather than a dividing factor at a time of political difficulties.