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Minister: Turkey agrees to release ‘fair share’ of Tigris, Euphrates waters to Iraq

March 15, 2021 at 10:52 am

Mehdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, Iraq’s Minister of Water Resources in Baghdad on 19 August 2020 [SABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images]

The Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, said yesterday that Turkey has approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that forces Ankara to release a fair share of Tigris and Euphrates waters to Iraq.

The Iraqi minister said in a statement that the Turkish special envoy has confirmed that there are agreements on the horizon and memoranda of understanding will be signed in the near future following parliament’s approval.

Iraqi officials have met with the Turkish side more than five times to discuss the water issue, which Al-Hamdani said “has not happened for years”.

In December 2014, the two countries signed an MoU in the field of water that includes 12 articles, the most prominent of which is the emphasis on the importance of cooperation in the field of water resources management of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and determining the share of water each country is eligible for.

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