In the past months the Social Cohesion Council in the city of Sulaimania has established itself as a valuable civil society space for dialogue, consisting of men and women of all ages, various professions from doctors and lawyers to journalists and students, from the local community. The goal of the council is to address important...
+++ International Urgent Call to Turkish Government and International Public +++ It‘s not too late to Save Hasankeyf and Tigris River! No filling of the Ilisu Dam Reservoir! For 12.000 years, Hasankeyf in the Southeast of Turkey has been a site of uninterrupted human settlement. With the labour of dozen of cultures this outstanding universal...
On 14 March of every year, millions of people around the world raise their voices to highlight those struggling to protect the earth’s rivers for International Day of Action for Rivers, and on 22 March, they turn their attention to all the world’s water for World Water Day. This year, local social forums joined with...
Herewith the final declaration of the 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum, which 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 –...
The Diyala Social Forum has begun efforts to address these pollution problems in their province. Pointing to the pollution of the Khraissan River, the Diyala Social Forum created a working group to study solutions that could be implemented to reduce this pollution. An urgent meeting was held to review opinions and plans, and to choose...
Omar Sattar, Al-Monitor, 5 April 2019 BAGHDAD — Although water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have been rising as torrential rains fill some of the largest dams in Iraq, the threat of drought persists. Turkey is now taking the necessary steps to fill its controversial Ilisu Dam, while Iran continues to cut off tributaries of the rivers flowing...
Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, historic lifelines of Mesopotamia, stretch across the states of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran. In past decades these rivers have faced environmental degradation and politicization through large dams, river diversions and unsustainable management at the expense of the peoples living in the basin. Negative management...
From 6-8 April 2019 the 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum will take place at the University of Sulaimani, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. A unique space for open and public dialogue about the status and access of bodies of water in the Mesopotamia. This event will be an important opportunity to promote a society-wide coalition for...
By Omar Al-Jaffal, Al-Monitor, 23 March 2019 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Baghdad March 11 to endorse the two countries’ renewed commitment to the 1975 Algiers Agreement regarding the shared border of the Shatt al-Arab River. The agreement has sat idle for decades, as Iraq has attempted to evade what it sees as unfair terms. However, Iraqi Prime Minister...
From 6-8 April 2019 the 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum will take place at the University of Sulaimani, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. A unique space for open and public dialogue about the status and access of bodies of water in the Mesopotamia. This event will be an important opportunity to promote a society-wide coalition for...
