Iraq makes the water file sovereign and tends to store the Turkish increase in releases

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[size=52]Iraq makes the water file sovereign and tends to store the Turkish increase in releases[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Firas Adnan[/size]
[size=45]The Ministry of Water Resources confirmed that Iraq has transformed the water file from a technical and diplomatic to a sovereign one, stressing its intention to store the largest amount of water received from Iran in order to deal with it well, especially with the approaching end of the winter agricultural season.[/size]
[size=45]Ministry spokesman Khaled Shamal said, "Iraq has taken measures regarding the water file, at the administrative and operational levels."[/size]
[size=45]Shamal added, "The administrative procedures are represented by dividing Iraq into divisions and crisis cells that are managed by the general managers in the ministry and the directors of water resources in the governorates are linked to them."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, “Central control over the water file is managed by the Minister of Water Resources, Aoun Diab, and with him the general managers in the ministry.”[/size]
[size=45]Shamal explained, "The operational procedures are represented in preserving the existing storage at a high level and investing the rain to achieve agricultural irrigation."[/size]
[size=45]And he talked about "the importance of applying the system of bidding and rotation, with the continuation of the campaign to remove and prevent abuses, whether between the governorates or among farmers within the irrigated agricultural area."[/size]
[size=45]And Shamal said, "Iraq is the first country in the Middle East to join the Helsinki Water Agreement, and the forty-ninth at the global level."[/size]
[size=45]He stressed, "Iraq has been away from international forums for long periods, and today it is returning to it, through meetings that are held, including those that took place on the sidelines of the visit of Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani to Turkey."[/size]
[size=45]Shamal added, "There is a government tendency to advance the water file, export it internationally, and make it take a sovereign approach."[/size]
[size=45]And he added, "The Helsinki Agreement includes three important matters, the first is Iraq's openness to all global experiences regarding the bilateral relationship on cross-border rivers, and the second is that this agreement supports member states in internal reforms of the water file and benefit from the experiences of others."[/size]
[size=45]And Shamal continues, “The third matter provided by this agreement gives members international support in the field of receiving water from other countries, so that the water is sustainable at home, in addition to pushing it for internal development programs while achieving a kind of self-development for government institutions and civil society organizations on how to deal with water.” another country regarding the quantities of water on common rivers.[/size]
[size=45]And he stressed that "Iraq's international move to preserve its rights in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the conclusion of agreements would support its position and support it in the face of the neighborhood."[/size]
[size=45]Shamal noted that "previous governments dealt with the water file as diplomatic or technical, but the current government has turned it into a sovereign file."[/size]
[size=45]And he added, "Al-Sudani's visit to Turkey resulted in obtaining an explicit approval from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release water for a month at double the current expenditures."[/size]
[size=45]Shamal confirmed, "The releases, according to Erdogan's directive, have begun with a slight increase in the quantities of water coming into Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]And he believed that “the quantities of water coming from the Turkish side will be appropriate during this month,” and he talked about two directions of the ministry, “the first is to store the largest amount of this water,” adding that “70% of water revenues arrive from neighboring countries, and this made the water policy Iraq is a hostage to the policies of these countries.[/size]
[size=45]And Shamal concluded, “The other approach is to work to raise the levels of the Tigris River in a scientific way, and we do not depend on paying new water discharges, with the end of the winter season, so we only need drinking water and domestic uses, and this requires preserving it while strengthening the levels in the Mosul Dam as the most important.” in Iraq and the ability to maneuver.”[/size]
[size=45]For his part, Tahsin al-Moussawi, a specialist in water affairs, said that "the recent contact with the Turkish side through the Sudanese visit is a positive step."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Moussawi continued, "Iraq granted this file to the hands of the highest authority after its previous negotiator failed to secure water rights."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The talk comes to provide drinking water, but this will affect the agricultural identity of Iraq with the expansion of the desert and an increase in migration."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Moussawi noted, "The Iraqi storage has decreased, according to the statements of the Ministry of Water Resources, to 7 billion cubic meters."[/size]
[size=45]And he finds, “The country, in light of its agricultural and industrial needs, and to push the salt spout from the Shatt al-Arab, needs one billion cubic meters per month.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Moussawi spoke about "a real crisis that Iraq is suffering from at the present time, which needs the help of neighboring countries and the international community to get out of this crisis."[/size]
[size=45]Despite what he stressed about the importance of dialogue with the Turkish side, he went back to clarifying that “the meetings did not touch on fully sharing the damage that Iraq bears.”[/size]
[size=45]And he believed, "The negative effects of water began early, although Iraq has not left the winter season until the present time, with the departure of provincial areas from the agricultural plan and the suffering of cities located in the tails of rivers regarding drinking water."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Moussawi went on to say that "Iraq should take internal measures related to improving agricultural methods and preventing water waste."[/size]
[size=45]Iraq has been suffering since the end of the 2019 season, which is described as wet, from years of great scarcity, which culminated when it was ranked among the five countries most affected by climate variables.[/size]
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