Turkey's abundant upstream dams dry up Zakho river

ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s upstream dams have blocked the flow of water into Zakho’s Hizel river, drying it up and leaving many farmers in the area without water.

Farmer Tahir Asaad, who has a garden and about 200 sheep, told Rudaw’s Yousif Mousa that they are now forced to buy water in tankers for irrigation.

"Turkey has blocked the water flow ... we used to have a river where we would wash our utensils and give water to our sheep. It is gone and they [Turkey] have built a dam on it,” Asaad said.

The Hizel river crosses the border of Zakho for 36 kilometers until it reaches the Tigris river, which is a common waterway between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey.

Water scarcity is a severe issue in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The war-torn country is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN.

However, the issue is exacerbated by the Turkish and Iranian damming of rivers that flow into Iraq, cutting off the increasingly dry nation from much-needed water relief. Ankara has built a mega-dam on the Tigris.

Turkey has built seven upstream dams on the Hizel river, according to the Zakho Irrigation Office.

According to the Zakho Water Office, about 10,000 acres of land are prosperous due to the water of the Hizel river, and now they are in danger of drying up and getting deserted.