Faleh al-Khazali, the head of the agriculture, water, and marshes committee in the Iraqi parliament told the state-owned newspaper al-Sabah that “despite the committee’s support for negotiations [with Ankara], the Turkish side does not respond or cooperate on the water file and the increase of water flow to Iraq”.
“This prompted the committee to call for the suspension of trade relations with Turkey,” said Khazali.
Khazlai noted that Turkish military presence on Iraqi soil constitutes another reason to suspend trade with Turkey, stressing that there are “90 incursion points inside Iraq and four military bases, one of which is in Nineveh province.”
Iraq is already suffering from water shortage, an issue which is exacerbated by Turkish and Iranian damming of rivers that flow into the country, cutting off the increasingly dry nation from much-needed water relief. Ankara has built a mega dam on the Tigris River.
In an interview with Rudaw earlier this month, Iraq’s Minister of Water Resources Aoun Diab said that as per an agreement with Ankara, the Turkish government is “required to release 500 cubic meters of water per second as a minimum, and of this 260 cubic meters should reach Iraq.”
Diab noted that the flow of water from Turkey to Iraq has dramatically decreased in recent years, especially in 2022, when Iraq only received 180 cubic meters of water per second.
“From that year [2022] to last year, Iraq has lost about 10 billion cubic meters of water that did not come because neighboring Turkey did not comply with the agreement and did not return the requested amount to the Syrian-Turkish border,” Diab stated.
According to Khazali, the volume of trade between Baghdad and Ankara amounts to $24 billion, with 600 Iraqi companies making investments inTurkey, “despite all of this, Ankara did not give Iraq its entitlements in this [water] file.”
Iraqi and Turkish authorities have held several meetings regarding the water issue but have not reached any concrete agreements.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said last year that his government would implement measures to regulate the consumption and wastage of water after a Turkey visit where he sought to increase the release of water downstream into Iraq.
“Our government will continue to implement the priorities of its plans to enhance water storage and reduce waste,” Sudani said at the time, adding that his government is working to ensure Iraq’s water share through negotiations and dialogue with neighboring Turkey and described the visit as “an example of the success of the government’s directions.”
Water levels in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers - shared by Iraq, Syria, and Turkey - have dropped considerably in recent years. A 2022 report by Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources on the threats of climate change, predicted that unless urgent action is taken to combat declining water levels, Iraq’s two main rivers will be entirely dry by 2040.
Water scarcity is a severe issue in Iraq. The 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.
