Fundamental Shifts in Turkey's Water Policy (original) (raw)
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Since the middle of the last century, Turkey’s water policy has undergone continuous reforms, with significant changes being made especially in the past three decades. Three mutually reinforcing trends can be identified since the early 1980s: decentralization, privatization and Europeanization. On the whole, Turkey’s water policy has been transformed from being an entirely centralized public policy to one with decentralized elements, with strong private sector participation and a still rather weak integration of environmental issues into its water policies and management.
Book review: Turkey's Water Policy
Some books are published at the right time. This book was published during turbulent times in the Middle East. In particular, some of the riparian states, including Turkey, that share international river basins, have been in a state of unrest and/or civil war. How does such a situation affect the domestic water policy of Turkey (the upstream riparian)? How does Turkey's national water policy affect its cooperation with other riparian states, as the title of this book suggests? These and many other questions are addressed in a very interestingly structured book on a fascinating country and its complex water resources.
Turkey's proposed privatization plan, notwithstanding the fact that it is not yet implemented, is the fi rst case of a planning of a largescale privatization of (parts of) the transboundary rivers, namely the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. This chapter aims to articulate a number of risks associated with any privatization in the Euphrates-Tigris transboundary river basin. To this end, the fi rst section expresses major policy confi gurations in the water sector by following a historical line of reasoning. A wide range of literature outlining arguments for and against privatization in the water sector is provided as a ground for debate. The second section displays the Euphrates-Tigris River basin's characteristics, hydropolitical relations and possible outcomes resulting out of the privatization plan. Additionally, the chapter provides considered recommendations that can be used in near future as the Turkish government continues to support the private sector, privatization projects in particular.
Turkey's Draft Water Law and Water Framework Directive Implementation: An Analysis
After some lengthy processes of preparation and consultation, a new framework water law has now been declared as “ready” for Parliamentary procedures. Since Turkey aspires for European Union membership, harmonization with Water Framework Directive (WFD) is one of the key priorities within environmental negotiations. From the outset, the newly proposed water law has been drafted with an eye on WFD requirements. It also targets to eliminate the so-called “patchwork” of water-related legislation in Turkey through adoption of a single yet comprehensive law. This paper analyzes the recent draft Turkish water law in light of WFD rules and principles. It has been observed that the proposed water law appears to be largely in line with these rules. However, there is room for improvement as well. For instance, although the proposed law mentions the full-cost-recovery principle, which is one of indispensable elements of WFD, there is a degree of ambiguity in the law on whether environmental and resource costs would be calculated and recovered in full. It is anticipated that a number of by-laws would provide full-fledged frameworks of operationalization on issues that are not sufficiently articulated in the law itself.
The Past, Present and Future of Water Resources in Turkey
2014
Water is one of the most vital resources for sustainable development. Although world population has increased three times in the 20th century when compared to 19th century, water resource consumption has increased six times. However, those who benefit from these fast consumption resources do not have sustainable features which provide equal opportunities and benefits. As a result, water crisis has become inevitable all over the world. Water quality in Turkey cannot be monitored in an efficient way and the needed data bank cannot be formed. Water resources have been distributed into 26 hydrological pools in terms of rivers and they are managed by State Hydraulic Works (SHW). SHW measures water quality in certain resources only where dam pools are present. In Turkey, the primary issues related to application of European Union (EU) water framework directive are the distribution of water related responsibilities to many institutions in institutional structuring, lack of coordination and...