Behind the scenes of Turkey’s use of the Euphrates as a weapon against Syria

According to the report of Fars News Agency, in recent months, despite the fact that we are in the cold seasons of the year, the Syrian and Arab media have repeatedly warned about the decrease in the water level of the Euphrates River, and political observers have attributed it to the consequences of the water war against Damascus and the violation of the agreement. Adana” from Turkey.

So far, the Syrian authorities and people have repeatedly asked international organizations to put pressure on Turkey to adhere to the agreement on the fair distribution of Euphrates River waters and not to use water as a weapon to pressure the Syrians, but so far no practical action has been taken in this regard. Is.

While these days, Ankara is sending many positive signals for the resumption of relations with Damascus and the meeting of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Syrian President Bashar Assad, it is expected that the water issue will be part of any reconciliation talks between Damascus and Ankara. be In particular, Assad said a few days ago in a meeting with the special envoy of the Russian President that any effective meeting with the Turkish officials is necessary to end the occupation and stop supporting terrorism.

By publishing a note on the continuation of Turkey’s catastrophic water war against Syria, the trans-regional newspaper “Rai Al-Yum” examined the various dimensions of this war, which continues in the shadow of the silence of the international community.

Khayyam al-Zoabi, a journalist and researcher of international relations, stated in the introduction of this note: “I look with sadness today, we see and hear that Turkey misuses the water of the Euphrates, using it as a weapon for the war against Syria. On the one hand, it uses it as a pressure lever to realize political achievements and economic greed, on the other hand, to strengthen its control in this country. This war is not a war against Syria as a homeland, but it has become a war against its people, its history and heritage, which is the most precious thing they have.

The author goes on to point out the most important pillars in Turkey’s water policy in the region and says; Turkey believes that if it can control the water resources, it will impose its complete control over the Middle East region, and to achieve this, it considers the Euphrates to be a domestic national river and not an international river, as defined in the international law. International is registered. Therefore, it avoids the burden of signing any agreement for water sharing and uses this water as a salable economic commodity.

The author considers an example of this to be the cooperation agreement signed between Ankara and Tel Aviv, according to which the Zionist regime obtains 50 million cubic meters of Turkish water annually for 20 years in addition to exchanging this water for oil.

The author adds that in this regard, Turkey collects three times more than its water needs, i.e. 190 million cubic meters of water, while it needs 80 to 85 million cubic meters, and then use this excess water as a weapon against neighboring countries in the implementation of the program. uses in the region.

Accordingly, since signing the agreements, Turkey has never fully committed to them; It has cut off water in successive periods and reduced the amount of water sent to Syria at other times. This case is related to political developments and the nature of Turkey-Syria relations, which were severed after the start of the Syrian war in 2011.

According to this note, with the worsening of the relations between Syria and Turkey, Ankara once again resorted to manipulating the amount of water entering Syria and using it as a weapon in its war, and during the recent months, several times the drinking water of about one million people in the province was cut off. Al-Hasakah has cut off the water lines at Al-Alouk station, which is the main artery of the region’s drinking water supply.

The author believes that the silence of the western media regarding this issue is in the context of the action against Syria, after the defeat of the military war against it, and is a water weapon in the hands of Turkey to increase the pressure against the Syrian government and the migration of the remaining Syrian residents in the north of this country and the destruction Syria’s food security strategy uses

This is despite the fact that Damascus has recently focused on the cultivation of strategic crops such as wheat in the northern regions of the country where the Euphrates River passes through, within the framework of the food security strategy. According to this analysis, this water policy of Turkey, in addition to the cases mentioned above, will also lead to environmental damage and the spread of the desertification disaster caused by the destruction of agricultural lands, drought and power cuts as a result of the inability to produce electricity from Syrian dams and the loss of fish and Livestock has led.

The author states: “The cries for help of the people of al-Hasakah and its suburbs are not heard by anyone in the corridors of international and global organizations because most of the countries present in the United Nations are not aware of the pressure exerted by the Turkish government against Syria in order to gain political gains, despite the violation of international laws that guarantee the system. They support the flow of water in international rivers.

Elium’s opinion notes continued: “The water war is a terrible tactic of Turkey, which is trying to use it as a pressure card against Damascus, that’s why Turkey is constantly trying to punish the residents of the east of the Euphrates, especially because they In the previous stage, they stood against the Turkish attack and rejected any occupation of their lands by Turkey through the gate of the militias.

The author emphasizes that the water card is a part of the war against Syria, and at this stage, Turkey continues to violate international humanitarian laws by abusing the fragile international conditions and tries to blame its crimes in cutting off the Euphrates or Tigris water on the Syrians. repeat

The author calls on all countries to stop interfering in Syria and its internal affairs and implement the agreement to end the phenomenon of militias and the escalation of extremist forces. This requires the cessation of all types of Western support for these groups in Syria and the cessation of financial and arms support for terrorists.

In the end, he wrote: “In the end, I am absolutely sure that peace will be the land of peace in Syria, which the West and its allies, who are the furthest people from this country, have turned it into a land of iron, fire, killing and destruction in the name of freedom. will return”.
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