Turkish lawmaker asks Iraq to cooperate on water issue

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - A senior Turkish lawmaker called on the Baghdad government Wednesday to cooperate with Turkey to resolve Iraq’s water problems.

Veysel Eroglu, the Turkish presidency's special representative to Iraq, held a meeting in parliament to evaluate Iraq's water supply issues.

"If they cooperate with us, they will surely benefit because we are not a colonialist state or nation. We work with a win-win principle," Eroglu told reporters after the meeting.

He recalled that they had previously offered to help establish a Turkey-Iraq Water Resources Research Center.

"It will be very beneficial. Because of the lack of information on the basis of such disputes, a lack of mutual contacts is taking place,” he said.

Eroglu said the Iraqi authorities expressed their appreciation for the establishment of the center.

"In this context, we have prepared the draft protocol," he said.

"I told them there is a lot of waste in water resources. Let's modernize them, especially irrigation. We can solve the drinking water problem. We have great experience and special technologies in wastewater treatment plants. I said let's do these," he added.

In June 2019, Turkey established a group of 51 experts to deal with Iraq’s water issues.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan underlined that the two countries should work together on water management to prevent a water crisis in the region.