Iran slams Turkey’s upstream dam-building activity

Iran defined “unacceptable” upstream dam construction by neighbouring Turkey on shared waterways on Tuesday, urging its neighbour to halt such activity.

“Turkey’s construction of dams on the border waters is unacceptable and we oppose it,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

He told lawmakers that the issue had been raised “at least three times in the last few months, during two face-to-face meetings in New York and Tehran, as well as a phone call with the Turkish foreign minister to express our disapproval.”

“I asked him to pay particular attention to the construction of dams on the River Aras,” he added.

Amir-Abdollahian noted that while “there is no bilateral agreement… on water cooperation, as neighbours, we asked the Turkish government four months ago to form a bilateral committee on water to respond to concerns in this domain”.

His remarks come as Iran has faced frequent droughts in recent years, caused in part by climate change, as well as dam-building in neighbouring countries.

But alongside Turkey, Iran itself has been responsible for building dams on shared rivers with its neighbour Iraq, threatening access to water there.

Nonetheless, Turkey’s dam on the Aras has posed a particular threat to water availability in Iran.

Neither country is a signatory to the United Nations Watercourses Convention of 1997, which governs the use of transnational water resources.