<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body >(via Michael Eisenscher of United for Peace and Justice)<br><br><br>-------- Original message --------<br>From: Michael Eisenscher <m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org> <br>Date: 05/31/2014 12:03 AM (GMT-06:00) <br>To: UFPJ Activist List <ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org> <br>Subject: [ufpj-activist] RESOURCE: A new Turkish aggression against Syria: Ankara suspends pumping Euphrates’ water <br> <br><br>
<b>Is this not a crime against humanity?</b><br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/new-turkish-aggression-against-syria-ankara-suspends-pumping-euphrates%E2%80%99-water">http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/new-turkish-aggression-against-syria-ankara-suspends-pumping-euphrates%E2%80%99-water</a>
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<h1 class="title">A new Turkish aggression against Syria: Ankara
suspends pumping Euphrates’ water</h1>
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<div class="leading-image"><img moz-do-not-send="true" title="Top: "The decrease in water levels"
Bottom: "Tishrin Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)" class="imagecache imagecache-5cols imagecache-default
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<div class="image-caption">Top: "The decrease in water
levels" Bottom: "Tishrin Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)</div>
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<p class="authors">By: <a moz-do-not-send="true" title="Articles by Suhaib Anjarini" href="http://english.al-akhbar.com/author/suhaib-anjarini">Suhaib
Anjarini</a></p>
<p class="dates"><span class="published">Published <span class="date-display-single">Friday, May 30, 2014</span>
</span><span class="updated"></span><span class="original"></span></p>
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<div class="content-wrap"><b>The Turkish government
recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River,
threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major
water crisis. <i>Al-Akhbar</i> found out that the
water level in Lake Assad has dropped by about six
meters, leaving millions of Syrians without drinking
water.</b><br>
Two weeks ago, the Turkish government once again
intervened in the Syrian crisis. This time was different
from anything it had attempted before and the
repercussions of which may bring unprecedented
catastrophes onto both Iraq and Syria.<br>
Violating international norms, the Turkish government
recently cut off the water supply of the Euphrates River
completely. In fact, Ankara began to gradually reduce
pumping Euphrates water about a month and half ago, then
cut if off completely two weeks ago, according to
information received by <i>Al-Akhbar</i>.<br>
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity
revealed that water levels in the Lake Assad (a man-made
water reservoir on the Euphrates) recently dropped by
six meters from its normal levels (which means losing
millions of cubic meters of water). The source warned
that “a further drop of one additional meter would put
the dam out of service.”<br>
“We should cut off or reduce the water output of the
dam, until the original problem regarding the blockage
of the water supply is fixed,” the source explained.<br>
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) controlling
the region the dam is located in did not suspend the
water output. Employees of the General Institution of
the Euphrates Dam are running the lake under the
supervision of al-Qaeda linked ISIS, but they don’t have
the authority to take serious decisions, such as
reducing the water output. In addition, such a step is a
mere attempt to ease the situation, and it will lose its
efficacy if the water supply isn’t restored to the dam
by Turkey.<br>
The tragic repercussions of the new Turkish assault
began to reveal themselves when water levels dropped in
al-Khafsa in Aleppo’s eastern countryside (where a water
pumping station from Lake Assad is located to pump water
through water channels to Aleppo and its countryside).<br>
<aside>The reservoirs are expected to run out of water
completely by tonight or tomorrow morning at the
latest.</aside>
Meanwhile, water supplies in auxiliary reservoirs in
al-Khafsa are close to being depleted and the reservoirs
are expected to run out of water completely by tonight
or tomorrow morning at the latest. This threatens to
leave seven million Syrians without access to water.
Also, Tishrin Dam stopped receiving any water which
blocked its electricity generating turbines, decreasing
the power supply in Aleppo and its countryside, further
intensifying the already severe imbalance in the power
supply.
<p><br>
In Raqqa, the northern side of Lake Assad is today
completely out of service. Two million Syrians living
in the region covering the villages of Little Swaydiya
to the east until al-Jarniya to the west could lose
their drinking water supply. “Losing water supplies in
the dam means that the silt in the lake will dry off
which would pressure its structure, subjecting it to
fissures and eventually total collapse,” <i>Al-Akhbar</i>
sources warned, adding “it is crucial to shut down the
dam to stop its collapse.”<br>
However, shutting down the dam (if ISIS agrees) will
only lead to a human and ecological (zoological and
agricultural) catastrophe in Syria and in Iraq.<br>
According to information obtained by <i>Al-Akhbar</i>,
Aleppo locals (who had already launched many
initiatives to reach solutions for a number of local
issues) began a race against time to recommend
solutions for the problem, including putting the
thermal plant at al-Safira back to work, which may
convince ISIS to spare the Euphrates Dam turbines, and
in turn preserve current water levels in the lake.<br>
In case it succeeds, such a step would only rescue
whatever water and structures are left, and would ward
off further repercussions of the crisis that has
already started. A halt to the water supply is now
inevitable and can’t be resolved unless the Turkish
government takes the decision to resume pumping
Euphrates water.<br>
In any case, it is worth mentioning that the water in
the lake would take about a month, after resuming
pumping, to return to its normal levels.<br>
<span class="insert-image"><span class="image-title">Top:
"The decrease in water levels" Bottom: "Euphrates
Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)</span><img moz-do-not-send="true" title="Top: "The
decrease in water levels" Bottom:
"Euphrates Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)" class="imagecache-3cols" alt="" src="http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/3cols/2%281%29.jpg"><span class="image-caption">Top: "The decrease in water
levels" Bottom: "Euphrates Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)</span></span><br>
<b>A historical conflict</b><br>
The Euphrates River has historically been at the
center of a conflict between Turkey on the one hand
and both Syria and Iraq on the other. Ankara insists
on considering the Euphrates a “trans-boundary river”
and not an “international river,” hence it is “not
subject to international laws.” Also, Turkey is one of
the only three countries in the world (along with
China and Burundi) that opposed the Convention on the
Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International
Watercourses adopted by the General Assembly of the
United Nations in 1997.<br>
In 1987, a temporary agreement between Syria and
Turkey was signed to share the water supplies of the
Euphrates during the period when the basin of the
Ataturk Dam was being filled. In virtue of the
agreement, Turkey pledged to provide an annual level
of over 500 cubic meters of water a second on the
Turkish-Syrian borders, until reaching a final
agreement about sharing the water supplies of the
river between the three countries. In 1994, Syria
registered the agreement at the United Nations to
guarantee the minimum amount of Iraq and Syria’s right
to the water from the Euphrates River.<br>
<font color="gray">This article is an edited
translation from the Arabic Edition</font><br>
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