BAGHDAD: Chairman of the parliament's foreign relations committee, Hamam Hamoudi, discussed with Turkish ambassador in Baghdad the effects of the new Turkish dam on the Tigris river, an official statement said on Monday.
"Hamoudi received the ambassador last night and discussed with him the effects of the dam on the Tigris rive," the statement added.
Tensions are already high between Turkey and Iraq over the amount of water that Turkey releases from its section of the Euphrates into Iraq.
Just last week, Iraqi government officials decried Turkey's monopolization of the river, calling it "unacceptable" and placing economic sanctions on Turkey until a more equitable water policy is developed.
In the arid climate of Iraq, water is an extremely crucial political issue.
The country's vast marshlands, once home to extraordinary biodiversity and a whole culture of "marsh Arabs", were destroyed under Saddam Hussein's regime and are just now beginning to make their recovery.
The outcome of that process depends on how much water the area receives in coming years.
Combined with the severe droughts that Iraq has been experiencing, Turkey's planned dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers don't bode well for the future of Iraq's marshes.
In the next twelve years, Turkey plans to build an additional 1,700 dams, nearly doubling the total number.
Virtually every river in the country will be affected.
a UN report notes with alarm that the Turkish government has conducted no assessment of the environmental and social impacts of these dams, perhaps because they mostly affect already marginalized groups.
© Aswat Aliraq 2012
