2. Introduction
3.10 Conclusion
4.1.1 Geographical background of Tigris and Euphrates River basin
The journey of Tigris and Euphrates starts in the cold-mountain climate in the East of Turkey.439 The Tigris’ length is 1,800 km from its source in Turkey until it flows into the Persian Gulf. The total areas of the river basin shared among riparian states is as follows - Iraq 56.1%, Turkey 24.5%, Iran 19%, and Syria 0.4%. The total area of the
439 Altinbilek, above n 27, at 16.
Tigris basin is estimated to be 221,000 km2.440 The annual flow of the river is approximately 52 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM).441The river is formed by linking two headwater tributaries - the Botan and Batman in Turkey. The Tigris is quite significant for Iraq because the country's capital depends mainly on the flow of the river. The river, alongside the Euphrates, creates the Mesopotamian Marshes, which have significant economic, ecological and environmental value for the middle and south of Iraq.442 The Euphrates River is the longest river in western Asia (2,786 km). This river also originates from eastern Turkey and flows to Syria and Iraq. The total area of the Euphrates River basin is (440,000 km2). Iraq shares the largest area of the basin, 47%
of the total basin area, then Turkey and Syria come second and third by sharing 28%
and 22% of the basin's total area. Saudi Arabia and Jordan share a minimal area of the basin area, respectively 2.97% and 0.03%.443 The river is formed by joining two major tributaries - the Karasu and Murat near Elazig city in Turkey. The Balikh and Khabur are another two tributaries that discharge into the river in Syria.444
Both the Euphrates and Tigris unite in Iraq and they compose the Shatt al-Arab river before entering the Persian Gulf. The Shatt al-Arab river that combines the two rivers inside Iraq is 192 km long, which river enters the Persian Gulf in the final stage.445 After entering Iraq, several tributaries and sub-tributaries discharge into the Tigris River. The Khabur, Greater Zab, Lesser Zab, Adhaim, and Diyala (Sirwan) are major tributaries joining the Tigris River after entering Iraq.446 These tributaries are formed by several sub-tributaries. For instance, Rawandooz and Shamdinan are major sub- tributaries of Greater Zab.447
440 UN-ESCWA and BGR Inventory of shared water resources in Western asia (Beirut, 2013) at 100-101.
441 Aysegül Kibaroglu “State-of-the-art review of transboundary water governance in the Euphrates–Tigris river basin” (2019) 35(1) International Journal of Water Resources Development at 3.
442 David P Forsythe “Water and Politics in the Tigris–Euphrates Basin: Hope for Negative Learning?” (2017) Water Security in the Middle East at 168.
443 BGR, above n 440.
444 Ammar Hatem Kamel, Sadeq Oleiwi Sulaiman and Ayad Sulaiby Mustaffa “Study of the effects of water level depression in Euphrates River on the water quality” (2013) 7(2) Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture at 238.
445 Luis Antonio Bittar Venturi and Caluan Rodrigues Capozzoli “Changes in the water quantity and quality of the Euphrates river are associated with natural aspects of the landscape” (2017) 19(2) Water Policy at 234.
446 Nadhir Al-Ansari “Management of water resources in Iraq: perspectives and prognoses” (2013) 5(6) Engineering at 670.
447 Varoujan Sissakian and others “Meandering of tributaries of the Tigris River due to mass movements within Iraq” (2014) 6(11)at Cited Pages at 726.
The Karun is the last river to join the Shatt al-Arab. The Karun and Karkha are two tributaries that emerge from Iran. The Karun contributes approximately 24.5 BCM and the Karkha about 5.8 BCM each year to the Shatt al-Arab river. However, these two tributaries do not actually contribute to the Shatt al-Arab river because Iran has changed the direction of these tributaries to flow back into that country.448 Even though Iran contributes only 2% of the Tigris River flow, the Iranian government has constructed dams on most tributaries such as Karun, Karkheh and Dez.449
The Euphrates and Tigris have contributed greatly to developing civilisations throughout history. All ancient and magnificent civilisations raised in Southwest Asia were established between the two rivers and the surrounding area. The Sumerian and Akkadian civilisations (4500-2154 BC) occupied the lower part of the basin. The Assyrian culture (2025-608 BC), the Hattian culture (2000-1700BC), and the Hittite culture (1600-1350 BC) in the upper part of the basin. Meanwhile, Babylonian culture (1735-1499 BC) was situated in the middle of the basin. These major civilisations were raised in the basin as the result of the wealth of the two rivers.450
The two rivers also have a significant value for the Kurdish people, particularly those living in Turkey and Syria. The Tigris, Euphrates, and their streams and their sources originate in the Kurdish area in Turkey. The Euphrates also enters Syria through its Kurdish areas. Additionally, the Tigris enters Iraq via the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Despite political and ethnic conflicts between the Kurdish people and the riparian states in the TE-RB, there is a strong environmental movement among the Kurdish people, particularly against dam constructions and the GAP.451 Thus, the Kurdish people have a strong voice in this area, that will be addressed in the following sections.
This dynamic is not unusual for the people who have lived in the basin since ancient times. The basin is home to the oldest known farming villages in the world, such as Zawi-Chemi and Jarmo. An ancient city such as Kirkuk (Arapkha) was mentioned in
448 Nadhir Al-Ansari, Ammar Ali and Sven Knutsson “Present conditions and future challenges of water resources problems in Iraq” (2014) 6(12) Journal of Water Resource and Protection at 1086.
449 Issa E Issa and others “Expected future of water resources within Tigris–Euphrates rivers basin, Iraq”at Cited Pages(5) at 432.
450 Adamo, Al-Ansari and Sissakian, above n 88, at 21.
451 See Simin Fadaee and Camilla Brancolini “From national liberation to radical democracy: Exploring the shift in the Kurdish liberation movement in Turkey” (2019) 19(5) Ethnicities.
Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian documents more than 5,000 years ago.452 The basin is also home to the most ancient living city in the world, Hasnkeyf. The city is 12,000 years old, and it has strong cultural and spiritual ties with the Kurdish people who live in the area.453 The American journalist Tim Arango described the local people’s feelings during the Ilisu Dam construction in 2016 - “They are dejected. They love their town and are proud of the history of Hasankeyf. It’s where their grandparents and great-grandparents are buried.”454 Thus, the TE-RB has a great heritage, cultural, and spiritual values for the world and the Kurdish people in particular.
Turkey is the main contributor to the flow of the two rivers because 90% of the water of the Euphrates and 53% of the water of the Tigris comes from Turkey. However, Iraq is most in need of the river flows because approximately 98% of Iraq’s local water supplies comes from the two rivers. Syria also relies heavily on the Euphrates because 86% of its local water supply comes from that river.455 This dependence on the Euphrates River encouraged Syria to construct many dams on the river since the 1970s for electricity generation and irrigation. The storage capacity of these dams exceeds 16 km3 in some instances.456 However, the construction of these Syrian dams did not stop Turkey from putting pressure on Syria by using the water of the Euphrates as a threat.
Turkey used the river as a weapon against Syria, pressuring them not to support Turkey's Kurdish secession and freedom movement in the 1980s and 1990s.
As a result, water is politicised, securitised, and militarised in this region.457 Iraq was also active in building dams in the last century until the 1990s. There were also plans to construct several other dams, such as the Bekhma, Badoush, and Baghdadi, but they have not been constructed because of the second Gulf war and the UN sanctions.458 Thus, Iraq is in a critical situation because the three neighbouring countries of Turkey, Syria, and Iran, are all working strategically to maximise water utilisation of the Tigris
452 See Thamer Khazal Al-Ameri, Sahar Y Jasim and Amer JS Al-Khafaji “Middle paleolithic to neolithic cultural history of North Iraq” (2011) 4(5-6) Arabian Journal of Geosciences.
453 Peter Boyle “Turkish dam project threatens 12,000-year-old heritage” (2019)(1238) Green Left Weekly at 12.
454 Tim Arango “Turkish Dam Project Threatens to Submerge Thousands of Years of History” (2016) The New York Times <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/world/europe/turkey-hasankeyf-ilisu-dam.html>.
455 Neda A Zawahri “Adapting to climatic variability along international river basins in the Middle East” (2017) 1 Water Security in the Middle East: Essays in Scientific and Social Cooperation at 159.
456 Al-Ansari, Ali and Knutsson, above n 448, at 1086.
457 Forsythe, above n 442.
458 Nadhir Al-Ansari and Sven Knutsson “Toward prudent management of water resources in Iraq” (2011) 2011(1) Journal of Advanced Science and Engineering Research 448.
and Euphrates and their tributaries. In addition, these countries have not signed most of the international agreements related to water, which makes the situation even worse compared to other transboundary cases.
4.2 Dams and projects on the TE-RB