Kurds warn of water crisis in northern Syria, blame Turkey - report

Kurds in northern Syria blame Turkey for a crisis caused by falling water levels, Voice of America News said on Friday.

Northern Syria is the war-torn country’s most important agricultural region, producing large quantities of grain crucial to food supply.

But local farmers told VoA that without more water they face crop failure and starvation.

A Kurdish-led autonomous administration has controlled much of the region since 2012, when forces loyal to the Bashar al-Assad regime largely withdrew to other areas.

Turkey accuses the administration of links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with which it has been engaged in an internal conflict since 1984, and has launched a series of military incursions into northern Syria.

VoA said Kurdish officials blame recent droughts on Turkey limiting the downstream flow of the Euphrates River, while Turkish officials say they are also suffering from water shortages.  

Low water levels were also impacting electricity production, with flow through turbines at Tishrin Dam power plant falling by 500 cubic meters to just 200 cubic meters per second in recent months, engineers told VoA.  

Last summer, Kurdish authorities accused Turkey of repeatedly shelling Allouk pumping station, depriving thousands of locals of running water during the COVID-19 pandemic.