2010Jan7: Turkey and Syria agree to the joint construction and management of a dam on the Orontes River, which runs along the Turkish and Syrian border (TRT). Hundreds of thousands of Middle Easterners have been displaced because of a 3-year drought, which has devastated the agricutural sector. The scarcity of water has led to resentment by Syria and Iraq against Turkey, which is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have enough water. Turkey is a water superpower, according to Hussein Amery, an expert on Middle East water management and a professor at the Colorado School of Mines. The upper tributaries of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are located in Turkey and dams have been built on rivers, reducing the flow of water to Arab countries that are downstream (NPR).
References: NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122365133&ps=cprs; TRT http://www.trtenglish.com/trtinternational/en/newsDetail.aspx?HaberKodu=8904a24c-00fd-4745-9c13-fe7092cc7f9f
Image Description: Orentes River. Credit: syriapath.com Image Location: Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hama-orontes-river.JPG Image Permission: The copyright holder of this work, hereby releases it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.
