Turkish president and the question of waters with Syria and Iraq
Fertile Crescent, Politics, 3/28/2000

Turkish President Suleiman Demirel has expected that the question of dividing the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers with Syria and Iraq will result in problems between the two countries and Turkey.

He said that Turkey has the right to have sovereignty on the two rivers, refusing the description made by both Damascus and Baghdad to these two rovers as " shared rivers."

The BBC correspondent in Ankara said that the Turkish President during his visit to the Turkish national water establishment in Ankara on the occasion of the International day of waters, indicated the problem of waters in the Middle east and said that the question of sharing the waters of Tigris and the Euphrates will result in a big problem in Turkey's relations with both Syria and Iraq.

He stressed his country's right to make utmost use of Turkey's waters until the last border area, noting he will continue building dams on all Turkish rivers, including the Tigris and the Euphrates.

The BBC correspondent indicated that Turkey is preparing to sell 100 million cubic meters of waters annually for each of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian government.

Previous Stories:
  Draft resolutions of the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Beirut   (3/9/2000)
  Turkish delegation to Syria on Monday   (3/3/2000)
  Syria welcomes Turkish initiative to start discussion on water   (2/26/2000)

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