Turkey and Water Issues in the Middle East, by Özden Bilen, is more specifically focused presentation of Turkish attitudes and policies regarding that nation’s position in the regional milieu. Although the author is careful to state that all the opinions in the book are his own and do not represent official policy, his position as former head of the Turkish State Hydraulic Works (DSI) and as an internationally recognized and respected authority on Middle East water issues lends significance to this book. (The reader must accept its translator’s occasional lapses in grammar.)

This book relates to two important issues. Turkey is often cited as the most important source of surplus water in the Middle East. In fact, its former, now deceased, president, Turgut Özal, in 1987 offered a “Peace Pipeline” as a possible solution to Arab water problems. The two branches of this pipeline were annually to deliver several billion cubic meters of Turkish water south as far as the United Arab Emirates in the East and Jiddah in the West. The proposal attracted much attention but little enthusiasm from potential Arab recipients or among its critics at home. Nevertheless, Turkish water, either from Turkish shares of the Euphrates or from other sources, is often suggested as much needed supplement to the short supplies of Jordan basin nations.

Bilen’s response to such ideas is cogent and significant. He clearly states that Turkey does not consider water problems in the Middle East a “unified whole.” In other words, Turkey reserves the right to decide when, to whom, how much of its water it is willing to sell to or share with other nations. This is reinforced by a detailed argument disclaiming the idea that Turkey is a water-rich country. He then goes on to state that water, particularly for agriculture, should be allocated to maximize its efficient use. This matches Turkey’s request that a basin-wide survey be made by the three riparians in order to determine soil qualities and potential, and to fix on a tripartite basis where specific crops should be grown. As yet, this suggestion has met with negative response from Syria and Iraq.

The second area involving Turkish waters centres on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and the mammoth Southeast Anatolia project. This project, in magnitude the equivalent of the American Tennessee Valley Authority, with its numerous dams already generating huge quantities of hydropower and its reservoirs expected to irrigate 1.6 million hectares of land in southeast Turkey, has been a source continuing consternation to the downstream riparians Syria and Iraq. These countries accuse Turkey of arbitrarily cutting off the flow of Euphrates, of polluting its waters, and of scheming to take an unfair share of the available water.

Bilen, in turn, presents a detailed discussion of hydraulic history of the Middle East as well as a “Hydro Political and Technical Assessment of the Waters of the Middle East,” with specific references to the Orontes River; the Jordan River; ground water resources in Israel, Jordan, and Palestine; and possible technical adaptations suggested for the area. Unlike Shapland’s discursive approach, Bilen marshals his data to counter Syrian and Iraqi claims. He also puts forward counter-arguments showing inconsistencies in Syrian attitudes regarding their use of the Orontes River on the one hand and their complaints regarding Turkish use of the Euphrates on the other.

The purpose of this reviewer’s comments is not side with one group or the other, but to indicate that Bilen’s book gives a straightforward and articulate presentation of the Turkish argument. As mentioned earlier, it would be useful if a similar work were available expressing, in as cogent and careful manner, Arab perspectives.

John F. Kolars

Professor of Geography and Near Eastern Studies

University of Michigan

...Türkiye’nin Ortadoğu Su Sorunları içindeki yeri üstüne yazılanların büyük bölümü başka ülkelerin insanlarının ürünü… Mühendisi, hukukçusu, iktisatçısı, siyaset bilimcisiyle hemen herkes bir şeyler söylerken bizler pek az yazmak gereğini duymuşuz bu konuda. Son yıllarda bazı çabaları, özellikle de Sayın Özden Bilen’in kişisel çabalarını bir yana bırakırsanız Türkçe ya da yabancı dilde Türk yazarlarının imzasını taşıyan öyle az kitap ve makale var ki…

Prof. Dr. Özhan ULUATAM

Ankara Üniversitesi

Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi

…Ozden Bilen, former director general of the DSI, shared his unique experiences of participating in the technical negotiations with Iraq and Syria over the construction and filling of the first dams across the Euphrates. Ozden Bilen contributed extensively to water diplomacy literature in Turkey with his monographs and memoirs on pivotal issues such as Turkey’s water relations with Middle Eastern countries (Bilen 2000), as well as Turkey’s evolving water agenda through harmonization with EU water policy (Bilen, 2008). Bilen indeed managed to build in valuable professional ties in Turkey between water practitioners, and diplomats on the one hand and academia on the other…

Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Kibaroğlu

Professor of International Relations

MEF University İstanbul, Turkey

Published by the Regional Development Administration of the Southeastern Anatolia Project, Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry.

The sub-title of this book is: “An examination of the Indus, Colorado, Danube, and Jordan-Israel Water Treaties and the Water Agenda of the 21 st Century”.

Bilen presents a detailed discussion of the modern hydraulic history of the Middle East, and puts forward a ‘hydro-political and technical assessment of the waters of the Middle East’. He makes specific reference to the Orontes river, the Jordan river, and the groundwater resources in Israel, Jordan and Palestine, and suggests a number of possible technical adaptations for the area.

The author is former head of DSİ (Turkish State Hydraulic Works), and is an internationally recognized and respected authority on Middle East water issues. However, he stresses that the views expressed in the book are personal, and do not necessarily reflect official Turkish policy.

The book has four main sections. The first presents the historical background to the shaping of the Middle East Peace Process, and in particular the Working Group on Water.

The second part gives a hydro-political and the technical assessments of the waters in the region, dealing with various river basins and including aspects such as per capita water availability in different countries, and the balance in water supply and demand.

The third section analyses some of the water treaties in the other parts of the world relating to trans-boundary rivers (including the Danube, Colorado and İndus rivers), and the fourth section looks at the relationship between water resources development and the environment, and water in relation environmental agenda of the 21 st century.