The 2nd Mesopotamia Water Forum (MWF), organized to protect water resources, defend the right to water, and ensure ecological justice, continued on its third day at the ÇandAmed Congress and Culture Center. During the event, proposals from two days of forum and workshop discussions were shared. Many international guests, ecology activists, representatives of civil society organizations, and political parties attended the forum.

On the third day and last day of the forum, participants presented their suggestions and measures to be taken in the future. Following the discussion of proposals, it was announced that the final declaration would be released ten days later, incorporating the collected views.

Throughout the three-day discussions, participants emphasized that water is not a scarce resource, but rather that the main issue lies in the unequal access to it. A proposal to recognize rivers as “living entities” received strong support. Participants stated that this approach represents not only a legal struggle but also the beginning of a broader social movement. Representatives from Iraq reported that 80 percent of the country’s water resources had diminished, leading to the displacement of millions. Participants from North and East Syria stated that water cuts constitute a violation of the right to life, and proposed the formation of a delegation to establish democratic pressure mechanisms concerning the Allouk Water Station. Representatives from Turkey drew attention to the impacts of dams, mining, and energy projects on water resources. The forum also highlighted the sacredness of water in Yazidi, Zoroastrian, and Nestorian beliefs.

The main proposals forming the framework of the final declaration were listed as follows:

• Develop new policies against mining activities in river basins.
• Draft international agreements to protect the right to water, ensuring that such agreements are implemented with the direct participation of local communities, and establish relevant commissions.
• Create common digital platforms that allow people to connect quickly.
• Develop shared policies against the pressure of industrial livestock farming on water resources.
• Collect accurate data on water among communities and establish joint research commissions.
• Form a delegation to build democratic pressure mechanisms regarding the Allouk Water Station in Rojava.
• Collect accurate data on water among communities and establish joint research commissions.

The forum’s slogan was “Water is life, water is peace.”

After the conclusion of the forum, participants from various regions visited historical and cultural sites in Amed, including Cemilpaşa Mansion, the Dengbêj House, Fiskaya, the Ten Arches Bridge, and Mount Kırklar.

The 2nd Mesopotamia Water Forum, organised by the Amed (Diyarbakir) Metropolitan Municipality, the Mesopotamia Water Forum and the Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, has begun. Over the three-day forum, discussions will address not only the water resources of Mesopotamia but also the water crisis and related policies in Iran, Iraq and Syria. The forum, which includes participants from the Middle East, Turkey and UNESCO, will also seek solutions to the policies of the capitalist system that has turned water into a tool of war.

Ecologist Beyza Üstün, one of the participants of the forum, drew attention to the deepening attacks on water resources and capital-driven policies particularly in the lands of Mesopotamia. Üstün said: “Water is liberated together with peace,” and added that water, once disconnected from its natural flow, has turned into a crisis and that a struggle must be waged against this.

Üstün said at the second Mesopotamia Water Forum that water policies in the region threaten both nature and societies and reacted to the transformation of water into an instrument of capital accumulation. She stated that the reason for bringing together the peoples of the Mesopotamian basin, ecology organisations, activists, politicians and researchers in this forum is to “defend water and life,” adding: “We are here as those who care about water policies and those who want to protect water.” She underlined that this process is not only an environmental struggle but also a political and social one.

The Mesopotamian basin is under a deep assault

According to Beyza Üstün, water policies in the Middle East are undergoing a profound transformation, particularly through Western Mesopotamia. The efforts of the capitalist system and nation-states to control water resources directly threaten life in the region.

Üstün said: “The capitalist system, backed by imperialism, imposes international decisions on nation-states. In this process, natural assets, ecosystems and fundamentally water, which is the source of all living beings, are being commodified.” She recalled that the decisions taken at the 1992 Dublin Conference removed water from being a human right and turned it into a commercial commodity.

Water has been cut off from its natural flow

Üstün stated that the water policies implemented in Turkey and neighbouring riparian countries have long been destroying nature and added: “Through dams, energy projects and investments by large corporations, water has been cut off from its natural flow; the common asset of peoples, living beings and entire ecosystems has been turned into part of capital accumulation.” She said the process is destroying not only water but also forests, agricultural lands and ecological balances: “When water becomes inaccessible, life also becomes inaccessible. Who has access to water? Only those with money and capital. State policies legitimise this.”

Water has become a war strategy

Beyza Üstün said that policies carried out through the control of water deepen regional conflicts, recalling the examples of Israel–Palestine and Rojava, and stated that water has now become a part of war strategies. Üstün said, “To seize water means to seize life, and this is a direct intervention in the lives of peoples,” and added that wars serve as instruments of capitalist and imperialist intervention.

We must struggle for all living beings

Üstün stated that in order to break this hegemony, it is necessary to resist capitalism, patriarchal mentality and capital-oriented interventions carried out under the pretext of security policies: “Today, as those who defend water, we are resisting this domination that invades every area of nature with mines, HEPPs, WPPs and SPPs, not only for our own lives but for all living systems. The purpose of this forum is to discuss ways to protect water and alternative forms of life against the system. We are not talking about controlling water but about controlling the system that interferes with water. We are discussing how we can sustain life without condemning it to the capitalist system,” she said, summarised the direction of the forum.

What we call the climate crisis is a water crisis

Beyza Üstün said that the crises experienced around the world are rooted in interventions in the water cycle.

Üstün said, “What we call the climate crisis is actually a water crisis. Because the water cycle has been disrupted, atmospheric balance has changed. Storms, droughts and floods are all the result of these interventions.”

Üstün stated that the conflicts created by wars and systems will now take shape around access to water: She said, “The real danger is the gap between those who can access water and those who cannot. No living being can survive in a world without water. For this reason, we are waging this struggle not only for people but for the continuation of life.”

Finally, Üstün underlined that the liberation of water is also the key to peace and said: “The liberation of water is peace. With peace, water is liberated and peoples liberate water. As subjects of this struggle, we come together here, we debate, and we seek our path together.”

These are the opening lines of the declaration signed in 2012 by Iraqi sheiks gathered in the ancient town of Hasankeyf, a 12,000-year-old historical settlement in south-eastern Turkey at risk of being flooded upon completion of the Ilisu Dam – one of the many branches of the Turkish GAP hydropower project. The statement went beyond solidarity: community leaders from the Arab marshlands downstream and Kurdish activists upstream stressed a common heritage in need of protection. In an ethnically composite and politically fragmented region, terminology is never neutral. The use of the toponym “Mesopotamia”, literally the land between the two rivers of the Fertile Crescent, underscored belonging to a historically distinctive area along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates and a collective memory encompassing multiple cultures, thus diluting ethno-national separations and unifying socio-environmental struggles against manmade threats to shared waterways. 

Rather than being a one-off initiative, that early declaration gradually inspired the blooming of a counter-narrative to nationalist policies. In April 2019 civil society organizations of the four riparian countries (Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran) met in Iraq, in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, to hold the first Mesopotamian Water Forum under the umbrella of the Save the Tigris Campaign and the slogan “water knows no border”. In line with environmental campaigns worldwide advocating for the principle of free-flowing rivers, the activists assembled at the University of Sulaymaniyah rejected the use of water as political tool and took a stance for the equitable sharing of waterways. Rather than climate change, emphasis was put on the damage inflicted through negligence or self-interest by riparian governments, thus underlining their non-compliance with international law, and in particular with the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, in order to make countries accountable for misuse of the riverine ecosystem.  

By shifting attention from water shares to water rights, the Forum was relevant in a twofold sense: first, disengage water issues from the zero-sum game of geopolitical struggles regional countries are mired in; second, posit a bottom-up model of environmental governance that is attentive to the direct involvement of local communities. Beyond that, however, the innovative message of the mobilization lies in the re-articulation at the ideological level of Mesopotamia as discursive marker. “Mesopotamia” is devoid of sectarian and factional connotations since it recalls the glorious past of pre-Islamic empires and civilizations that are lost in history. It pre-dates the modern-day state system. “Mesopotamia is not sensitive to anyone”, explained an organizer of the forum, “It’s not Arab, or Persian, or Syrian. Everybody wants to be part of it”. 

Not by chance, the re-imagination of Mesopotamia owes much to the transnational Kurdish liberation movement. Known as the largest stateless nation in the world, Kurds have drawn on it to legitimate claims for autonomy in their host states and wish for the overall political reconfiguration of the Middle East. Starting with the prison writings of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, in recent years a wide repertoire of actions and frameworks was developed. Most notably, the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement was formed during the 2011 Social Forum in Diyarbakır, the major Kurdish city in Turkey. The revolution unfolding in Rojava, the Syrian side of Kurdistan, is also guided by the principles of ecology and political pluralism.     

Back to water politics, the reference to Mesopotamia as common space brings to the fore an inclusive understanding of security that goes beyond the state-centric territorialization of international rivers, which misconceives water resources as a feature of sovereignty. Historically, the emergence of nation-states and central administrations led to the partition of water bodies into national segments. In so doing, waterscapes are constructed as integral parts of the homeland: not only a strategic resource, kept inside sovereign borders, but also a figurative element belonging to the national community. Through this process of material and symbolic territorialization, which breaks the hydrological continuity of transboundary basins, water becomes a hardly negotiable resource. Water is seen as something to “be appropriated, annexed, secured” by state actors that compete for dwindling resources. In a region endowed with less than 1.5% of the world’s renewable freshwater supply, scarcity comes to be a byword for conflict. 

Despite impetus in UN policy circles on integrated planning and management across different jurisdictions, nationalism runs deep into predominant formulations of water governance. It is therefore not surprising that diplomacy has fallen short of securing peaceful solutions to looming water deficits and the potential conflicts that may arise. Tellingly, the Tigris-Euphrates basin is not governed by any multilateral agreement between riparian countries, thus leaving water issues at the mercy of unilateral actions. Relentless damming in Turkey and Iran at the expense of Iraq is a case in point.

Against this background, the path-breaking call for a Mesopotamian identity goes towards de-escalation of disputes and promotion of a rights-based decentred approach to water governance. The myth sustains an environmental vision surmounting the arbitrary lines of ethnicity, class, religion, and political affiliation. This holistic view also stresses a key balance between environment and society: biodiversity and sustainability are thought to be inseparable from multi-ethnic and multi-cultural richness. This connects in principle all cases of environmental injustice across the basin, from the flooding of Hasankeyf in Turkey to the depletion of the spring of Khani Bil in Iran. In other words, historical and ecological connectedness is central to the framing of a common identity, upon which inclusive and participatory arrangements within the transboundary water system may blossom. In light of recent protests sparked in Iraq and elsewhere in the broader region, hopes for democratization also run through its historical rivers and the ways these are governed.

The 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum was held on April 6-8, 2019 in Sulaimani (Sulaymaniyah) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. More than 180 water activists from the Mesopotamia region and other countries gathered for the 3-day forum at Sulaimani University.

Several civil society organizations from all over Mesopotamia – in particular members of the Save the Tigris Campaign – organized this water forum, which consisted of several plenary sessions and nine workshops. It was an open space to give voice to civil society of the region, too often excluded from decisions on water. The forum was accompanied by a photo exhibition on the upper Tigris River.

The activists denounced the grave impacts of dams and other water infrastructure on social structures, river ecosystems, cultural heritage, and local economies. The lack of democratic, decision-making mechanisms was highlighted. Another important aspect that was critiqued is the use of dams as weapons of hegemony by upstream states and powers against downstream communities. Strong alternative approaches were proposed to counter these developments.

After a vibrant discussion of the final declaration, it was decided to organize the 2nd Mesopotamian Water Forum in Diyarbakir (Amed).

Water for Life and Water for Peace!

Below the final declaration in English.

“Water is Under Assault in Mesopotamia” – Final Declaration 1st Mesopotamia Water Forum

Declaration 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum (MWF)

University of Sulaimani,
Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq 6-8 April 2019

Over-extraction; the draining of marshes and wetlands; deforestation; too many irrigation projects, poorly-drained land; pesticides and fertiliser run-off; contamination by poorly or often un-treated discharges from industry as well as households; the widespread building of large and cascade small dams; the increasing exploitation of groundwater aquifers; stream channelization; inter catchment water transfer schemes; and the ravages of fossil-fuel-induced climatic change have variously disrupted hydrological cycles and created conditions of severe local and regional scarcity. For human and non-human beings, such physical scarcities have been exacerbated by policies aimed at commodifying and/or politicising water, denying access to the common good of water.

Taken separately, each of those assaults would be cause for grave concern. Taken together, they pose a threat to the collective survival of humans and non-humans alike. Defending water and the right of all forms of life to access to water, in Mesopotamia, is now a critical civic duty: without water, there can be no life.

Water is a crucial element of our culture and spirituality. Many legends, myths, songs, poems, prayers, and dances are centered on water. This has been the case since humans settled in Mesopotamia up to 13.000 years ago.

Within Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran – the four states through which the rivers of the Mesopotamian Basin flow – the multiple crises affecting water are no accident. For the past century or more, governments, business interests and the military have recklessly pursued policies that have polluted and degraded the region’s rivers and ecosystems.

Hundred of thousands have been forcibly displaced from their homes to make way for dams and water transfer projects. The riverine environment has been severely degraded, threatening the survival of many species of flora and fauna; the health of citizens has been put at risk; and economic and social inequalities have increased.

None of this has gone unchallenged. Throughout the Mesopotamian region, vibrant movements for environmental and social justice have long sought to exercise their constitutional rights to campaign for access to clean and safe water. In many instances, they have been met by arrest, imprisonment or worse.

Committed to working for peaceful, sustainable and equitable solutions to these multiple injustices, over 150 water activists from the region, together with like-minded colleagues from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, gathered at the University of Sulaimani in the Kurdistan region of Iraq from 6-8 April 2019 to participate in the first ever Mesopotamian Water Forum.

We met in the spirit of solidarity and mutual learning. We interrogated the many causes of water scarcity, exploring the complex ways in which demand for water is mediated through economic and social systems. We learned how the intensive construction of dams and other water infrastructure schemes have created water scarcity.

We explored alternative ways of managing water in the interests of the many, not the few. We heard of new initiatives, notably in the Rojava/Northeastern region of war-torn Syria, to evolve new participatory approaches to water governance, involving all citizens – regardless of ethnicity, gender or religion – in bottom-up, consensual approaches to decision-making.

We people of Mesopotamia – and the allies present at the Mesopotamian Water Forum – affirmed that, despite our diverse cultural, social, political and environmental realities, our struggles are one, and we expressed our solidarity with all those who struggle for water justice in the region and internationally.

We resolved to:

1.Challenge destructive and exploitative water policies in the region, recognising the particular burden on women and other oppressed identities, and addressing their underlying causes.

2. Mobilise support for negotiated agreements under legally binding international law that would ensure the equitable sharing of water of the Euphrates and Tigris for the benefit of all life, both human and non-human, in the region;

3. Stand against the use of water as a weapon for hegemony and to work to ensure that water is a tool for cooperation and sustainable peace. Upstream states in Mesopotamia must ensure the rights of people downstream to water.

4. Call for an end to the recent cutting of water flows by Turkey and Iran to Syria and Iraq.

5. Call to prevent the flooding of the 12000-year-old city of Hasankeyf caused by the Ilisu Dam and to preserve the unique natural and cultural heritage of the Iraqi Mesopotamian Marshlands from degradation.

6. Build alliances, nationally, regionally and internationally to evolve policies and practices that would democratise water management.

7. Ensure that water is used in ways that prioritise the collective right of all, rather than the few, to survival;

8. Considering that most diverted water goes to irrigation, the following points are crucial: For farmers in a subsistence economy, clean water is vital, which is why in areas close to water no chemicals should be used. As hybrid seeds and GMO seeds require too much water and harm the ecosystems, local seeds should be used. Animal shelter should not be built close to water so that no serious harm is caused to waters. The water used in agriculture should not be contaminated by industry. Irrigation close to the water course is feasible, but no water should be transferred to areas far away from the water course. Thus, instead of transfering water to plants, plants appropriate to the climate and precipitation regime should be cultivated.

9. The pollution and destruction of the Tigris River starts in an intensive way far upstream. One reason for this is that the river has no river status in the upstream stretch until Bismil city. We call for an international campaign to declare the river status for the upper-most stretch of the Tigris River.
10. To strengthen the Save the Tigris Campaign (STC) as a network through which water activists in Mesopotamia can exchange information and analysis, explore commonalities and differences, prepare common statements and reports and organize common activities/campaigns.

11. Develop the Mesopotamian Water Forum as an open space for advocating for new decision-making processes at municipal, national and regional levels through which environmentally and socially just water policies can be inclusively formulated and promoted.

12. Implement the specific recommendations made by workshops at the Forum.

13. We have committed to organise the 2nd Mesopotamian Water Forum in Diyarbakir (Amed) / Turkey in the near future.

Main contributing organizations:

Save the Tigris Campaign (STC)
Humat Dijla (Tigris Keepers), Iraq
Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, North Kurdistan
Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI), Iraq
Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive, Turkey
People’s Campaign to Save the Kind Zagros, Iran
Waterkeepers Iraq, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Make Rojava Green Again Campaign, Rojava/Northeast Syria
Ecology Union, Turkey
Mountain Watch, Iran
DOZ international, Northeast Syria
KAREZE Environmental Organization, Iran
Mlakawa Organisation, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Nature Kurdistan, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Ecopeace, Middle East
Lebanon Eco Movement, Lebanon
Rivers Without Boundaries, East and North Asia
Movement of Defence of Water, Land and Environment (MODATIMA), Chile
Un Ponte Per, Italy
Corner House, UK
International Rivers, USA
First Ecosocialist International, North America
Water Grabbing Observatory, Italy
Italian Forum of Water Movement, Italy

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For any inquiries, contact coordinator.en @ savethetigris.org