US embassy cable - 05ANKARA1012

UNCLAS ANKARA 001012 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR, IZ, PREL, SENV, SY, TU 
SUBJECT: TURKEY DOES NOT PLAN TO INCREASE EUPHRATES WATER 
FLOW 
 
REF: A. 2005 DAMASCUS 927 
     B. 2204 ANKARA 1804 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified 
 
1.  (SBU) Turkey has no plans to increase the release of 
water from its dams along the Euphrates, according to Mithat 
Rende, MFA DG for Energy, Environment and Transboundary 
Water.  He said Turkey plans to maintain the normal average 
flow for this time of year of about 750 cubic meters/second. 
He said any increase experienced in Syria was a short term 
change.  He was surprised by the report (ref a) that the 
Euphrates river was rising in Syria because two Syrian 
diplomats met with him a day earlier (February 23) to 
complain that Turkey was not releasing enough water. 
 
2.  Rende assured that Turkey would inform Syria if it plans 
to significantly increase the flow.  He added that a repeat 
of last March's release of 2,500 cubic meters/second 
following a sudden melting of Turkey's snow base was unlikely 
to happen this year (ref b).  He said that precipitation in 
Turkey was 25 % below normal, leading to fears that Turkey 
might experience a mild drought in 2005. 
 
Baghdad Minimize Considered. 
 
EDELMAN