Waltina Scheumann

Water in the Middle East

Water is a precious resource throughout the Middle East. Not only is water necessary for life, but it aids in the advancement of civilization. Many Middle Eastern countries have historically depended on oases for their water. Oases are isolated regions of vegetation in the desert accompanied by a natural spring or water sources. The locations of oases have been strategically important, influencing camel caravan routes and giving rise to towns and cities. Al-Hasa in Saudia Arabia is the largest oasis in the world. Photo: An Oasis in the Libyan part of the Sahara.

The Euphrates Issue in Turkish-Syrian Relations

During the 1980’s and more vital by the early 1990’s, repeated predictions of water wars were made, and the fear of impending violent disputes over international rivers have caught the public’s and the media’s attention. These fears have been partly rooted in historical events particularly in the Middle East, e.g. the intended diversion of the River Jordan’s headwaters by Arab states is regarded as a major cause for the war in 1967 (Naff/Matson 1984; Dombrowsky ch. 42); the filling of the Syrian Tabqa reservoir in 1975 brought Syria and Iraq to the brink of war that could only be avoided through mediation by the Arab League and the Soviet Union (Naff/Matson 1984; Beschorner 1992/93); when Ethiopia declared its intention to build reservoirs at the Blue Nile, the then Egyptian President Sadat threatened that Egypt would bomb Ethiopian construction sites (Schiffler 1998).

Euphrates-Tigris Rivers System: Political Rapprochement and Transboundary Water Cooperation

Water-related development projects on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers have been highly contested over the last four decades and have caused relations between the riparian states, i.e. Turkey, Syria and Iraq, to become highly strained and serious crises occurred. All co-riparian states are unilaterally strengthening their efforts to develop water resources to increase their hydropower potential, and to extend their irrigated agricultural areas. These activities pose the main threat to their mutual relations, and to date, the riparians have failed to achieve a common agreement. Since major non-water issues are now solved, or are at least approached, in a more pragmatic manner, the prospects for joint initiatives have improved. Figure 1 shows a map of the two rivers, their main tributaries and selected dams. Table 1 and Table 2 provide an overview of the context for cooperation on both rivers.

Conflicts on the Euphrates: An Analysis of Water and Non-water Issues

Since the beginning of the 1980’s, several events have triggered headlines in the international and the German press upon the presumption that water scarcity will lead to armed conflicts over the allocation of shared rivers. The Euphrates-Tigris River Basin (Figure 7.1.), shared by the co-riparian states Turkey, Syria and Iraq, is supposed to be one place in the world where war could break out. It is without doubt that with rising population and the associated increase of water demands, the allocation of shared rivers generates a high potential for conflicts. But the equation ‘water scarcity’ equals ‘war’ is somehow dangerous, as it neglects the states’ efforts to settle conflicts. In the last hundred years, numerous river treaties have been signed which show that, even under difficult conditions, solutions can be achieved. Whether cooperation is forthcoming or not depends not only on the water issue. In almost all cases, cooperation was positively influenced by outstanding issues, i.e. not directly related to the allocation of the shared rivers, and this holds true for conflicts as well. It is important to note that, historically, the negotiation process over the Euphrates River has shown phases of conflicts with changing coalitions, and agreements have been reached to some extent. The present pattern of conflict derives not only from the disputed allocation of the Euphrates’ water but from outstanding policies, which instrumentalize, at least in some respect, the unresolved water issue.

Coruh River Basin: Hydropower Development and Transboundary Cooperation

The Coruh River is the longest river of the East Black Sea region and is of high economic importance for Turkey because of its largely undeveloped but economically exploitable hydropower potential. However, the operating and planned dams could also cause environmental damage in Turkey and downstream Georgia, in particular on the Black Sea coast in the Adjaria province.