Water and Turkish Security, Winter 2002

Over the past several years, as regional resources have declined in availability, hydro-politics has grown to dominate national security and strategic planning among countries in the Middle East. For Turkey, water is rapidly emerging as one of the most significant elements of the country’s contemporary security policy. This article examines the relationship of the water issue to Ankara’s relationship with Damascus, the problem of Kurdish terrorism, and the evolving strategic partnership between Turkey and Israel. In 1991, while still Egyptian Foreign Minister, former United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghalicautioned that the next war in the Middle East could be over water. Boutros-Ghali’s warning may have been prophetic, for water is reshaping the political landscape of the contemporary Middle East.

Please click here to read the text in full