Iraq announces activating water agreement with Turkey

The Water Resources Ministry announced Thursday that the water agreement with Turkey has entered into force, noting that there is a real political desire on the Turkish side for positive discussion concerning water matter.

“The Turkish president has ratified the memorandum of understanding signed between the Iraqi and Turkish sides,” water Resources Minister Mehdi Al-Hamdani said.

“One of the provisions of the agreement includes the launch of a fair and equitable quota for Iraq across the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,” al-Hamdani said.

“There is a significant positive turn in the way Turkey deals with Iraq in the water file,” he said.

“There is a real political desire on the Turkish side for positive treatment of the water file,” he said, noting that, there has been no positive cooperation from Iran, where a meeting has been called and we have not received a response,” he said.

“I hope that neighboring Iran will cooperate with Iraq to overcome the water crisis, especially since the damage has been great, despite the agreement to share the damage,” al-Hamdani said.