Turkey Worst Located in Terms of Tigris-Euphrates Basin Water Resources,In your view, which of the following (riparian) countries along the Tigris-Euphrates basin—Turkey, Iraq, and Syria—is worst located in terms of the water resources of this basin, and why?

Turkey Worst Located in Terms of Tigris-Euphrates Basin Water Resources

When considering the water resources of the Tigris-Euphrates basin, Turkey is the worst located of the three riparian countries, Iraq and Syria. This is due to the upstream location of Turkey in the basin and its greater level of water utilization and control. As a result, the water resources available to downstream countries are greatly reduced. As noted by Yilmaz and ?en (2019), “Turkey controls the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and it is a major user of the basin’s water resources. The two downstream countries, Iraq and Syria, are thus dependent upon the upstream country’s water allocations and releases.” This lack of control and ability to regulate flows often leads to downstream countries being placed into water scarcity situations. Moreover, the negative impacts of climate change, such as increased drought and desertification, are exacerbated in these downstream countries due to Turkey’s upstream control of water resources (Büyüksalih et al., 2018). Therefore, Turkey is the worst located of the three riparian countries in terms of the water resources of the Tigris-Euphrates basin. Cont…