تسوية المنازعات الناجمة عن استخدام مجاري المياه الدولية

Settlement of disputes about use international waterways

The water conflict casts a shadow on international relations in general, and the waterways crisis emerged clearly in the sixth and seventh decades of the last century after Turkey, Syria and Iran made many constructions on common waterways, and Iraq, Syria and Turkey share the most important rivers in the Middle East except They are two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates), and the problems deepened after Turkey established many projects such as dams and reservoirs on the course of the two rivers. Therefore, these actions are a violation of the rules of international law, treaties, protocols and international norms for the just sharing of the waters of international watercourses, and they do not abide by the agreements and protocols signed between the two parties.
As for Syria, it is an estuary country in relation to the two rivers above. It also shares the Tigris and Euphrates rivers with Iraq, especially since the Euphrates River cuts a distance of 610 km in Syrian territory. The Tabqa dam on the Euphrates River, ignoring Iraq’s acquired right to the Euphrates River and the resulting catastrophic effects that cast a shadow on the agricultural and industrial map of the country, especially in the center of southern Iraq, prompting many residents of those areas to migrate towards the north and the middle Euphrates. As for Iran, it proceeded to cut off more than forty common rivers between the two countries, which is equivalent to 35% of Iraq’s imports coming from outside the borders, from which the Tigris and Euphrates rivers feed from north to south. The Diyala River, in addition to cutting off some seasonal rivers, such as the Durig and Al-Tayyib rivers, as well as the Karkheh and Karun rivers feeding the Shatt aal-Arab.
Iraq opposed the Turkish, Iranian and Syrian measures for their unilateral exploitation of the waters of the shared international rivers, after making many interventions and protests with the above countries and in international organizations in an effort to solve problems related to the use of the waters of the common international watercourses. The rules of international law, which gave the right of each country participating in an international watercourse, to use its resources without harming the interests and rights of other countries, and the geographical nature of most of Iraq’s shared rivers gave Iraq its acquired right to the waters of those streams.
Iraq’s water share was previously determined based on the cultivated geographical area and the international custom in force at the time, which was adopted in the agreements of Iraq and the countries participating in international watercourses, such as the Qamision Agreement in 1914, which drew the borders of the Ottoman Empire with Iran, and established Iraq’s share in the waters of the common international rivers. Iraq and Turkey witnessed a number of Agreements and protocols when Iraq was under the British waters of those streams.
Iraq’s water share was previously determined based on the cultivated geographical area and the international custom in force at the time, which was adopted in the agreements of Iraq and the countries participating in international watercourses, such as the Qamision Agreement in 1914, which drew the borders of the Ottoman Empire with Iran, and established Iraq’s share in the waters of the common international rivers. Iraq and Turkey witnessed a number of Agreements and protocols when Iraq was under the British Mandate or after independence, the first of which is the British-French agreement of 1920, that Iraq and Syria were reeling under the British and French mandates, and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 specified its article 9) to regulate the use of waterways between the countries of the Tigris and Euphrates basins, as well as the 1946 Protocol The Turkish-Iraqi Treaty of 1947 and other international protocols.