Turkey’s dam building on border unacceptable to Iran: FM

MAHMOOD HOSSEINI/TASNIM
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks during an open session of the Parliament in Tehran on May 10, 2022.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed Tehran’s opposition to Turkey’s move to construct dams on joint water resources in border areas.

Speaking at an open session of Parliament on Tuesday, Amir-Abdollahian said he has called on his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, at least three times over the past months – in two meetings in New York and Tehran and during a telephone conversation – to pay serious attention to (reconsidering) the construction of dams on the Aras River, on the grounds of good neighborliness, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Although Tehran and Ankara have not signed any bilateral treaty on water cooperation, Iran made a request four months ago for the formation of a joint bilateral committee in order to address concerns about the water issues and make sure that Turkey’s building of dams would not adversely affect the water flowing into Iran, he added.

“We in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs do not approve of Turkey’s dam construction on the border water resources and express it loudly that such a Turkish move is not acceptable to us, and we are opposed to it,” Amir-Abdollahian stressed, calling for interactions between the Iranian administration and Parliament to deal with the issue.

He also noted that Iran is in contact with the Iraqi government, as both Iran and Iraq would suffer harm from Turkey’s dam building.