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Viewing cable 06ANKARA3691, TURKEY TRANS-BOUNDARY WATER AND ILISU DAM

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06ANKARA3691 2006-06-22 14:05 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Ankara
VZCZCXRO7425
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHAK #3691/01 1731405
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221405Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6790
INFO RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/EST COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 003691 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: ENGR SENV EAGR TU IZ
SUBJECT: TURKEY TRANS-BOUNDARY WATER AND ILISU DAM 
 
REF: ANKARA 3324 
 
ANKARA 00003691  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary: Turkey's DSI (State Hydraulic Works) provided 
additional information on the May 24 bilateral meeting in Ankara 
with Iraq (ref), characterizing it as a productive exchange of 
information, but disappointing in not covering new ground.  Turkey 
is set on building the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris as completing its GAP 
(South-east Anatolia) project; DSI said symbolic ground-breaking 
would be in July.  A German (Siemens)-Austrian-Swiss consortium is 
looking seriously at the project whose financing would depend on 
approval by the three export credit agencies.  Cooperation with 
neighboring countries on water basin management will be part of the 
water (environment) EU acquis.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------------- 
More on Historic May 24 Bilat 
----------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) Cross-border cooperation on water issues and Turkey's 
recent announcement of ground-breaking for the Ilisu dam have been 
the topic of recent meetings with officials from DSI (State 
Hydraulic Works), the EU Commission office in Turkey, and the 
Austrian Commercial Office.  Referring to the May 24 Turkey-Iraq 
bilateral meeting in Ankara on water (ref), DSI Deputy Planning 
Department Head Canse Akkaya, was pessimistic about future water 
cooperation with Iraq or Syria.  She stated that Turkey views the 
Tigris and Euphrates rivers as "trans-boundary", rather than 
"shared" resources.  Akkaya complained that Iraq and Syria have 
often lobbied unfairly against Turkey's planned water management 
projects, such as the Ilisu dam.  Although Akkaya stated that 
continued meetings could be beneficial to both countries, with the 
current security problems in Iraq, she did not feel that a solution 
to the trans-national water problems is likely in the near future. 
 
 
3.  (SBU) Akkaya also stated that the meetings did not cover new 
ground, rather they just rehashed the same issues from previous 
meetings, with no new trans-boundary information exchanged between 
the two countries.  Although the meeting may have been generally 
beneficial, each country was still independently pursuing its own 
projects and interests, she asserted.  However, she stated that all 
three countries should try and find a common denominator for 
cooperation, which calls for transparency about available resources 
and limitations.  Akkaya also questioned Iraq's ability to collect 
and provide accurate hydrological data given the current security 
problems there.  Planning Department Head Yalcin Dikmen echoed 
similar views and went into further detail about problems in Iraq. 
He described several water management problems which had been 
brought up during the meeting, including the problem of revitalizing 
the marshlands, and various irrigation issues. 
 
4.  (SBU) Akkaya claimed that Turkey's topography is more suitable 
for dam building than the topography of either of the other two 
riparian countries.  She stressed that stable hydrological and 
meteorological data was still needed from Iraq.  Akkaya felt Iraq 
had still not given sufficient information in response to Turkish 
requests. This was in violation of the idea of reciprocity of 
information sharing, with the view that Iraq was asking for more 
information than it is providing.  Dikmen articulated Turkey's 
standard position that Turkey is eager and willing to see these 
meetings continue and to continue to exchange information. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
EU Expects Trans-Boundary Water Planning 
---------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) In a separate meeting, Gurdogar Sarigul, Manager of the 
Environmental and Sustainable Development sector at the EU 
Commission Office in Ankara, brought up the lack of cooperation on 
water between Turkey and its downstream neighbors.  Sarigul stressed 
that Turkey would have to start thinking about these issues if it 
wants to proceed in membership negations, noting that EU acquis 
requires members to coordinate water basin plans with neighbors. 
Sarigul admitted that the requirement was less strict for non-EU 
neighbors but said that such practices would ultimately be 
necessary.  The EC rep observed that Turkey and its downstream 
neighbors were not showing sufficient concern for the environmental 
impacts of their water management projects.  He brought up the 
problems with pollution from Bulgaria and Greece affecting the 
downstream flows of the Evroz river in Turkey and said the 
sentiments of these countries is similar to Turkey's attitude 
regarding its downstream neighbors of Iraq and Syria. 
 
----------------------------- 
Full Speed Ahead on Ilisu Dam 
----------------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU) Similarly to an earlier meeting with the Turkish MFA, DSI 
articulated Turkey's commitment to moving forward on the Ilisu Dam 
 
ANKARA 00003691  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
on the Tigris to completed the GAP (South-east Anatolia) project. 
Akkaya said the groundbreaking ceremony for Ilisu would be postponed 
to July, instead of the June date with the Prime Minister reported 
in the press.  She said the project will be financed by Austrian 
firm VA Tech with some financing coming from Turkish sources. 
Akkaya also asserted that the Center for Research and Assessment of 
Historic Environment (TACDAM) at Middle East Technical University 
(METU) has prepared a full report detailing protection of the 
archaelogical aspects of Hasankeyf for DSI. 
 
7.  (SBU) Sarigul also confirmed that VA Tech was still planning on 
financing the Ilisu dam project.  He mentioned that an initial EIAR 
(Enviromental Impact Assessment Report) was being reassessed by VA 
Tech, under pressure from the EU for Austrian compliance on 
environmental matters.  Sarigul noted that VA Tech would be 
technically responsible for following EU directives, also depending 
on source of funds.   Institutions such as World Bank, EBRD, and ADF 
have all agreed that any projects financed by them must comply with 
EU environmental requirements, but the World Bank is generally not 
willing to fund large dam projects.  The current EIAR for the Ilisu 
project is still not up to EU environmental standards, according to 
NGO's.  For example, a Birdlife International local rep shared his 
organization's criticism of treatment of endangered waterfowl. 
 
8.  (SBU) Austrian commercial counselor, Richard Bandera, also 
confirmed Turkey's readiness and determination to move forward with 
the Ilisu dam project.  He said that the German 
(Siemens)-Austrian-Swiss consortium was seeking necessary financial 
backing from the three export credit agencies.  Bandera noted that 
the consortium and export credit financing would only move forward 
if international environment, archeological, and human rights 
standards were assured.  He noted that the current project would 
assure water treatment and protection to archeological sites. 
Bandera noted that, given Turkey's determination to move forward, if 
the European consortium was not successful, Turkey would likely 
pursue less responsible avenues such as Russian or Chinese support. 
Bandera stated that DSI had given a briefing about the Ilisu dam 
project to Syria and Iraq some months earlier and he was expecting 
feed-back shortly.  Bandera asserted that Turkey could present a 
good news story about Ilisu to its downstream neighbors based on 
cleaner and more regular water flow.  He admitted that Turkey still 
had some work to do to assure adequate mechanism for paying 
compensation under the Resettlement Plan before the export credit 
agencies would sign on to the project. 
 
Wilson