Turkey's Ilisu Dam and its impact on Iraq's water share

Abstract

This research came to shed light on one of the most important topics, which is the construction of dams and their impact on water shares, as water is an important basic of life due to its role in economic, social and environmental development. Therefore, water problems increase between countries in the form of disputes that sometimes lead to war, including the subject of the research, the Turkish Ilisu Dam and its impact on Iraq's water share from the Tigris River, as the effects of filling the dam began to appear in the river, especially on the lands through which it passes, which raised citizens' fear of drought that will affect their regions and agricultural crops, despite the legal and international provisions and rules for sharing international running water and how to resolve water disputes and the right of all waterway countries to benefit in a fair and just manner. Therefore, the research problem was represented by what are the future effects of the Ilisu Dam on Iraq's water share, and the research aims to shed light on the impact of the dam on Iraq's water share and its benefit to Turkey at the expense of Iraq. The research reached a set of conclusions, perhaps the most prominent of which is the danger of the dam on Iraq's water share through damage to the country's agricultural and environmental lands. The study recommended concluding direct agreements with the Turkish side in order to reduce the effects of filling the dam on the country's water share.