Abstract

The water crisis in the Middle East is worsening. The indicators of this crisis include increasing population, scarce and unequally-distributed water resources, competing claims of co-riparian countries, conflicts in utilizing of transboundary waters, and deficiencies in international water law. The pressure that these problems cause in terms of water resources is most evident in transboundary river basins. These conditions have led to the emergence of the concept of integrated water resources management as a potential solution to this issue on an international level. The purpose of this study was to address the obstacles to management of integrated water resources in Euphrates-Tigris basin from the viewpoints of Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Also, certain principles originating from national and international law, as well as current specific data were taken into consideration.

Key words: Integrated Water Resources Management, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, River Basin, Euphrates and Tigris