Turkey’s Water Policy
Aysegul Kibaroglu
Annika Kramer
Waltina Scheumann
Springer
This book aims to contribute to understanding the broader picture of Turkish water policy. It is unique in the sense that it comprises a wide range of issues of water policy at national level (Part I) as well as an analysis of Turkey’s international water policy beyond the prominent case of the Euphrates and Tigris river basins (Part II).
In the past, Turkey was frequently perceived as a strong upstream riparian that pursues huge water development projects without adequately taking the interests of water-scarce downstream riparians into account. Furthermore, Turkey’s attitude towards the development and strengthening of international water law was assessed as being reserved at best, because of the country’s reluctance to sign up to international water law. In order to get a full picture of Turkey’s position in this regards, one has, however, to consider the national policies and framework conditions that impact water resources management.
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Contents
Trajectories of Turkey’s Water Policy / xxiii
Waltina Scheumann, Aysegul Kibaroglu, and Annika Kramer
Part I National Framework
Turkey’s Water Policy Framework / 3
Aysegul Kibaroglu and Argun Baskan
Strategic Role of Water Resources for Turkey / 27
Sahnaz Tigrek and Aysegul Kibaroglu
Challenges for Turkey to Implement the EU Water
Framework Directive / 43
Vakur Sumer and Cagri Muluk
Water for Energy: Hydropower is Vital for Turkey / 69
Zekai Sen
Liberalization of Turkey’s Hydroelectricity Sector / 83
Argun Baskan
Water for Agriculture: A Major and Inefficient Consumer / 93
Sevilay Topcu
Turkey’s Policy for Combating Water Pollution / 117
Gokhan Orhan and Waltina Scheumann
Environmental Impact Assessment in Turkish Dam Planning / 139
Waltina Scheumann, Vera Baumann, Anna Lena Mueller,
Dennis Mutschler, Sylvia Steiner, and Thomas Walenta
NGOs Promote Integrated River Basin Management in Turkey:
A Case-Study of the Konya Closed Basin / 161
Buket Bahar Divrak and Filiz Demirayak
Part II International Cooperation on Turkey’s Transboundary Rivers
The Water Dimension in Turkish Foreign Policy / 179
Ilter Turan
Turkey’s Water Diplomacy: A Theoretical Discussion / 197
Paul A. Williams
Turkey’s Position towards International Water Law / 215
Annika Kramer and Aysegul Kibaroglu
Meric River Basin: Transboundary Water Cooperation
at the Border between the EU and Turkey / 229
Annika Kramer and Alina Schellig
Coruh River Basin: Hydropower Development and Transboundary
Cooperation / 251
Axel Klaphake and Waltina Scheumann
Kura-Aras River Basin: Burgeoning Transboundary Water Issues / 263
Axel Klaphake and Annika Kramer
Euphrates-Tigris Rivers System: Political Rapprochement
and Transboundary Water Cooperation / 277
Aysegul Kibaroglu and Waltina Scheumann
Orontes River Basin: Downstream Challenges and Prospects
for Cooperation / 301
Waltina Scheumann, Ilhan Sagsen, and Ece Tereci
Cooperation on Turkey’s Transboundary Waters:
Analysis and Recommendations / 313
Aysegul Kibaroglu, Axel Klaphake, Annika Kramer, and Waltina Scheumann
Annex / 327
Index / 399
FOREWORD
This book aims to contribute to understanding the broader picture of Turkish water policy. It is unique in the sense that it comprises a wide range of issues of water policy at national level (Part I) as well as an analysis of Turkey’s international water policy beyond the prominent case of the Euphrates and Tigris river basins (Part II).
In the past, Turkey was frequently perceived as a strong upstream riparian that pursues huge water development projects without adequately taking the interests of water-scarce downstream riparians into account. Furthermore, Turkey’s attitude towards the development and strengthening of international water law was assessed as being reserved at best, because of the country’s reluctance to sign up to international water law. In order to get a full picture of Turkey’s position in this regards, one has, however, to consider the national policies and framework conditions that impact water resources management.
Part I of this book, The National Framework, provides detailed analyses of water governance in Turkey, such as national policies and institutional frameworks in the water sector but also in other relevant sectors such as energy, agriculture, and the environment. It further discusses the transformation of Turkish water policy due to pressures and impacts generated at the domestic, regional and international levels. This includes developments ensuing from the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU WFD), from liberalization of national markets, and increasing importance of environmental issues for the Turkish public.
Part II of this book scrutinizes Turkey’s international water policy and provides analyses of water management and cooperation in all transboundary river basins that Turkey is riparian to, i.e. the Meric, Coruh, Kura-Aras, Orontes, Euphrates and Tigris basins.
Several chapters of Part II are based on a study by adelphi commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) in 2004. Germany has supported various international initiatives and programmes to facilitate and improve transboundary water management at international rivers and lakes, e.g. through the so-called Petersberg Process. Furthermore, Germany is closely cooperating with Turkey within the framework of EU-funded twinning projects. Adelphi is continuously assisting German government agencies and international organizations with the analysis of water policies and facilitation of policy dialogues. Against this background, the BMU had commissioned the study in order to improve the body of information on the current state of water cooperation on Turkish transboundary rivers.
The study provided a comprehensive assessment of current management of Turkish transboundary waters and identified existing potentials for cooperation. For this book, the assessment of Turkish transboundary waters has been updated and amended with further analysis of Turkish international water relations. Moreover this perspective has now been enriched with the analysis of national aspects determining water policy by distinguished authors.
This book provides a compendium on Turkish national and international water policy that has up to now been missing on the international book market.
Alexander Carius
Director, adelphi
About the Editors
Aysegul Kibaroglu is professor and faculty member in the International Relations Department at Okan University in Istanbul Turkey. Previously she was a faculty member and the Vice Chair in the Department of International Relations at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Dr. Kibaroglu spent a post-doctoral fellowship in the International Water Law Research Institute at the University of Dundee, Scotland. Her areas of research include: transboundary water politics; international law; political geography; environmental security and Turkish water policy. Prof. Dr. Kibaroglu has published extensively on the politics of water resources with an emphasis on the Euphrates Tigris river basin including a book volume entitled Building a Regime for the Waters of the Euphrates-Tigris River Basin by the Kluwer Law International (2002). She has also worked as Advisor to the President of the Southeastern Anatolia Project Regional Development Administration from 2001 to 2003.
Waltina Scheumann holds her Master in political science and a Ph.D. in engineering. She has been a faculty member at the Chair in Environmental and Land Economics, Technical University Berlin. Dr Scheumann later worked as a senior researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, and is presently working at the Deutsches Institut fu¨ r Entwicklungspolitik, DIE, Bonn. Dr. Scheumann’s work on water-related topics includes cooperation on transboundary waters, water governance issues in irrigated agriculture including drainage and combating salinization as well as the implementation of international standards for sustainable dam development in emerging economies (Brazil, China, India, Turkey) and in developing countries.
Annika Kramer holds a degree in environmental engineering from the Technical University Berlin with a specialisation in water management and international environmental politics. Her work on topics related to water management over the last ten years includes research on cooperation potentials as well as legal and institutional frameworks for transboundary basin management, mainly in the Middle East and southern Africa. Annika is currently working as a Senior Project Manager with adelphi and preparing her Ph.D. on global evolution and diffusion
of IWRM norms (University of Osnabru¨ck).
Acknowledgments
Every book is a curious journey and an adventure. This one was definitely no exception. During the weeks-long editing process in Bonn and Ankara, there were times when we, the editors, were contented with the outcome of our efforts by seeing how they contributed to the individual chapters to reflect what we really had in mind. There were also times when we spent laborious hours and days with a view to clarifying some of the complex issues in the manuscripts for the ease of understanding by our readers. All in all, our lengthy discussions over wide-ranging issues concerning water policy in Turkey were among the most instructive as well as productive times of our academic life. Trying to understand the complexities and peculiarities in the water policy discourse and the practice in Turkey, was a profound and lively learning process for all of us where we could draw from the many years of experience and knowledge we had gained through field studies, consultations and scholarships in Turkey and elsewhere. We realized that these were the moments when we dedicated ourselves truly to the editing process both as insiders and also as outsiders benefiting from our friendship, yet reflecting our objectivity to the work at hand as well.
In realizing this edited volume, we were supported both financially and logistically by our own respective institutions, namely the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, the German Development Institute (DIE, Deutsches Institut fuer Entwicklungspolitik), Bonn, and adelphi, Berlin. Hence, we would like to acknowledge their support as well as the research funding provided by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, which enabled us to draft Part II of this book concerning the analyses particularly of cooperation on transboundary rivers. We would also like to thank those experts and scholars in Turkish water policy circles for sharing their invaluable insights with us throughout the entire working process. Many thanks to Janet Sterritt-Brunner for the language editing as well as to Alina Schellig for preparing maps and up-dating others for Part II of this book. And, last but not least we would like to thank our families for their continuous support and patience all through the research and writing process.
Aysegul Kibaroglu,
Waltina Scheumann,
Annika Kramer
Aysegul Kibaroglu
Annika Kramer l
Waltina Scheumann
Turkey’s Water Policy
National Frameworks and International Cooperation
Springer
Springer-Verlag
Turkey’s Water Policy
National Frameworks and International Cooperation
Aysegul Kibaroglu
Annika Kramer l
Waltina Scheumann
Berlin Heidelberg
2011
Aysegul Kibaroglu
International Relations Department
Okan University
Istanbul
Turkey
Aysegul.Kibaroglu@okan.edu.tr
Dr. Waltina Scheumann
Deutsches Institut fuer
Entwicklungspolitik
Tulpenfeld 6
53113 Bonn
Germany
waltina.scheumann@die-gdi.de
Annika Kramer
Adelphi Research gGmbH
Caspar-Theyß-Str. 14 A
14193 Berlin
Germany
kramer@adelphi.de
Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011934033
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ISBN 978-3-642-19635-5
e-ISBN 978-3-642-19636-2
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-19636-2
