Turkey’s plans to build a large-scale dam on the River Tigris will deprive Iraq of the river’s waters, Thaer Mikheif Al-Jubouri, chairman of the Water Resources Committee in the Iraqi parliament, said on Monday.
“The dam that Turkey plans to build on the Tigris is one of the most dangerous types. Its purpose will be to provide irrigation to Turkish farmlands, and after it is completed it will not allow a single drop to reach Iraq,” Al-Jubouri told news website Baghdad Today.
Ankara intends to build several additions to the dam as well, also for irrigation purposes, Al-Jubouri said. “Although the dam is 35km away from the border, it still poses a significant danger to Iraq,” he added.
The lawmaker strongly criticised the Iraqi central government’s silence, saying that Baghdad’s lack of action against Ankara would lead to the dam being completed within a year.
Al-Jubouri called for the matter to be handled via international courts and diplomatic channels, instead of boycotts against imported Turkish goods and the use of trade as a response measure. He called on all Iraqi authorities to take immediate action, as the dam “poses a real danger to Iraq”.
the link to the letter sent to the Iraq parliament
