by Zeynep Gurcanli
OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Mart 13, 2008 14:15
Turkey, Iraq and Syria decided to form a ‘water institution’ to end the related problems in the region. The decision to form such institution was made during the meetings held in Ankara during Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's visit last week, the sources said.
Iraqi Water Minister Abdellatif Jamal Rashed accompanied Talabani in his recent visit. Syria joined the project during Turkish Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu’s Damascus visit following Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Dardari's Ankara visit in January. The institution is going to map the water resources in the region and report the most effective way of using them in three countries interests, sources told hurriyet.com.tr.    Â
The the institution is planned to be based in the Ataturk Dam, southeastern of Turkey, and will convene 18 experts from three countries. All the expenses for the institution are going to paid by Turkish government, sources said. Experts are going to work on the contingent problems especially those could emerge in the usage of waters from Euphrates-Tigris rivers.       Â
The first due diligence phase will be made in Ataturk whereas Asi and Ilisu Dams are expected to be next ones. Baghdad administration withdrew its complaints over Ilisu Dam after the decision to form an institution. Iraqi administration had been protesting Turkey’s initiatives on construction of Ilisu Dam.
For many years Iraq and Syria had criticized the Turkish dams on Euphrates-Tigris rivers, claiming the dams on these rivers had reduced the amount of water that run through their countries. Damascus and Baghdad had taken the case to international boards such as United Nations and Organization of Islamic Conference.Â
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