TURKEY DOES NOT PLAN TO INCREASE EUPHRATES WATER

UNCLAS ANKARA 001012 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR IZ PREL SENV SY TU SUBJECT: TURKEY DOES NOT PLAN TO INCREASE EUPHRATES WATER FLOW REF: A. 2005 DAMASCUS 927 ¶B. 2204 ANKARA 1804 Sensitive But Unclassified ¶1. (SBU) Turkey has no plans to increase the release of water from its dams along the Euphrates, according to Mithat Rende, MFA DG for Energy, Environment and Transboundary Water. He said Turkey plans to maintain the normal average flow for this time of year of about 750 cubic meters/second. He said any increase experienced in Syria was a short term change. He was surprised by the report (ref a) that the Euphrates river was rising in Syria because two Syrian diplomats met with him a day earlier (February 23) to complain that Turkey was not releasing enough water. ¶2. Rende assured that Turkey would inform Syria if it plans to significantly increase the flow. He added that a repeat of last March's release of 2,500 cubic meters/second following a sudden melting of Turkey's snow base was unlikely to happen this year (ref b). He said that precipitation in Turkey was 25 % below normal, leading to fears that Turkey might experience a mild drought in 2005. Baghdad Minimize Considered. EDELMAN