Turkey tells Iraq “shocking news”
Turkey tells Iraq “shocking news”
Posted, 2017/10/27 20:38
[Ayna-Baghdad]
Turkey has informed Iraq of a story described as “lightning”.
“The atmosphere of our meetings in Ankara was very positive with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the Prime Minister and with the Turkish Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs,” Water Resources Minister Hassan al-Janabi said on his social networking site.
“President Erdogan has officially informed us that the new Elissu Dam on the Tigris River will start in the spring,” Janabi said, adding that “the news is expected but it has been shattered.”
“During the talks, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi presented the issue of water seriously and insistently as a priority.”
“Al-Janabi said that” the news covered an important area of our talks with the Turkish side, even the Turkish president pledged not to harm Iraq as well as the minister concerned, “noting” we agreed to additional meetings to translate the Turkish pledge into action. ”
The Minister of Water Resources expressed “concern” and called on “citizens to maintain every drop of water.”
A high-level ministerial delegation headed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Ankara on Saturday and met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan said during talks between the two sides, according to a statement by the office of Abadi, “his country’s readiness to establish a joint dam to address the water shortage, and the Turks are keen not to harm their Iraqi brothers.”
The dam is a huge artificial dam that is close to completion and is located on the Tigris River near the village of Elso in southeastern Turkey and aims to generate hydraulic power, flood control and water storage and will have a storage capacity of 10.4 billion cubic meters.
The cost of the dam, which has been in operation since 2006, is more than $ 1.7 billion and exceeds 135 meters.
Iraqi water and hydrologists have agreed that the water situation “will be particularly harsh for Baghdad as the capital is waiting for a double crisis in access to drinking water as the giant Aliso dam approaches the Tigris River, On more than half of Iraq’s water imports, which destroys huge areas of agricultural land and threatens millions of Iraqis with an unprecedented thirst crisis. ”
They reported that Iraq’s current share of the Tigris will fall from 20.95 billion cubic meters per year – now Iraq – to 9.5 billion cubic meters after the dam is operational; more than half; which will lead to the drought and desertification of more than 7 million acres of land In the various provinces of the Tigris River, and in Baghdad, which will drop the level of the Tigris to more than half, while the southern provinces of Qust and Maysan will be more disastrous and tragic.
The current need for the capital Baghdad for water – experts also confirm 3.5 million cubic meters of pure water per day; an amount that is not available at the present time; the amount of the deficit is more than 700 thousand cubic meters a day, “wondering what will happen if water levels drop Tigris to less than half after the operation of the Turkish Aliso dam? “.
alliraqnews.com
