THE drying out of the vast marshes around the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in
southern Iraq is an environmental and humanitarian tragedy. And, as a report
from the United Nations Environment Programme this week makes clear, it is a
tragedy with several villains
(“Iraqi wetlands face total destruction”).
Until now, fingers have pointed mainly at Saddam Hussein, who had the marshes
drained after a rebellion by their inhabitants, the Marsh Arabs, back in 1992.
But Turkey must also take its share of responsibility. Its damming of the
headwaters of the Euphrates ended the spring floods that once replenished the
marshes. This left the land firm enough for Saddam’s engineers to work on. And
Turkey’s plans for future dams, including the Ilisu dam on the Tigris, seem
likely to seal the marsh’s fate.
And it doesn’t stop there. Many foreign countries, including Britain, are
supporting companies that hope to make a buck out of the Ilisu project. This is
inexcusable, especially in the absence of an international agreement on the
management of these two rivers.
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Turkey’s dams empty taps in Syria and Iraq. Aided by Iraq’s drainage works,
they have helped to destroy fisheries, rice paddies and reed beds in the
marshes, and in the process ruined spawning grounds for the rich fisheries of
the Gulf. The impact is felt most intensely, of course, by the Marsh Arabs whose
fertile home has been turned into a salt-encrusted wasteland. But the fishing
communities in Kuwait, Iran and other Gulf states may also suffer.
There is much talk of the prospect of “water wars” in the Middle East. In the
past, Syrian MiG fighters have buzzed Turkish dams. Iraq has threatened to bomb
a Syrian dam, and during the Gulf War, Turkey talked of using its dams to stop
the flow of the Euphrates altogether.
But war is not inevitable. Back in 1960, India and Pakistan—hardly the
best of friends—signed a pact to share the water of the Indus, which flows
through India and the disputed territory of Kashmir before running the length of
Pakistan. The lifeblood for tens of millions in both countries, it is too
precious to fight over. So they haven’t done so.
Is it too much to ask the same of Turkey and its neighbours? After all, lines
of communication are reopening. This month saw the first train in 20 years on
the line from Turkey to Baghdad.
And influential foreign governments should stop surreptitiously funding dams,
and instead put pressure on the nations along the Tigris and Euphrates to sign a
treaty to share and protect the rivers. It might not return the wetlands to
their former glory, but it could guarantee the spring floods needed to maintain
the surviving marshes on the Iranian border.
