Iraq / Arab Summit News Agency
Iraq is exposed to an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe, with the Ministry of Water Resources issuing a warning in which it said: The country’s situation is “at stake,” and that the water reserves have reached “critical” stages, due to the lack of commitment of neighboring countries to pump Iraq’s water share, which led to a decrease in the water level. in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
To get out of this crisis, members of the House of Representatives called on the executive authority represented by the government to use the card of economic pressure on the upstream countries to secure the water share and save agricultural lands. The deputy of the Oil and Energy Committee, Bassem Al-Gharibawi, said that Iraq has entered a critical stage due to the scarcity of water, noting that only 30 percent of water entitlements enter the country, which is reflected in the southern governorates, including Wasit, which suffer from petrification of streams and rivers.
Warning of an environmental disaster
Al-Gharibawi called for a diplomatic move towards the upstream countries, in addition to using files and papers to put pressure on these countries, including the economic file, because Iraq is exposed to an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe in the event of continued water scarcity in this way, describing the movements of the Ministries of Water Resources and Foreign Affairs as “weak.”
For his part, State of Law Representative Jawad al-Ghazali warned that there is a very big danger due to the lack of water imports, noting that predictions indicate that next summer there will be no agriculture, which will affect the standard of living of the people of the southern governorates who depend on agriculture. Al-Ghazali added that Iraq is one of the riparian countries with neighboring countries, but unfortunately there is no pressure on these countries, especially the Turkish side, to obtain Iraq’s entitlement from the water, noting the government’s possibility to exploit the economic file with the Turkish side,
The economic paper, 22 billion dollars in favor of Türkiye
The trade balance tends to reach $22 billion for Turkey, compared to $1 billion for Iraq. Al-Ghazali agreed with his colleague that the moves of Iraqi diplomacy are weak, calling for holding joint negotiations and visits by high-level delegations of specialists to discuss the water issue with Ankara, especially since the Turkish side has built 22 dams on the Euphrates River.
Last Thursday, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani chaired the first session of the Supreme National Committee for Water, in the presence of the ministers of water resources, construction, housing, municipalities, agriculture and the environment, the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, directors general in the sectoral ministries, and representatives of the advisory body. Al-Sudani indicated that there are legal and executive solutions that depend on dialogue with source countries, on common interests, and on cooperation with international organizations in this field.
