Turkey's Gap project from the perspective of international water law

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Teaching assistant at the Faculty of Law, University of Aleppo, Syria

10.22091/ijicl.2024.9309.1063

Abstract

The Turkish government has had the greatest impact on the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers by implementing huge development projects through the construction of large-scale dams under the Southeast Anatolia Development Project (Gap) and this has affected the access and use of Tigris and Euphrates rivers in other countries. On the other hand, the division and distribution of the water of these two rivers has been regulated with few and basic treaty provisions. Turkey refuses to recognize the international nature of these rivers and considers these rivers as national rivers; however, Syria and Iraq consider these rivers as international rivers and this has led to conflicts between the countries on the banks of these rivers.

The main issue of this article is about the effects of the Gap project, especially the effect of the Atatürk Dam and Ilisu Dam on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and its compliance with international law, including existing international treaty law and customary principles of international water law. This writing has been done by using library-documentary sources and by description and analysis method, and has reached the conclusion that the effects on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have some differences with existing international treaties and customary principles of international water law. These effects lead to the violation of the principle of non-harmful utilization of territory and the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization will be studied.

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Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 04 January 2024

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History

  • Receive Date: 08 April 2023
  • Revise Date: 28 April 2024
  • Accept Date: 04 January 2024

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