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1,5 km left .Cyprus water pipeline project can supply more than water

• 09.07.2015
• Yazar:Dursun Yıldız
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• 520

Dursun YILDIZ Hydropolitics Academy July 20 2015 Today Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared that  the  Peace Water Supply Project  to Cyprus will be completed in soon. It has been only 1.5 km left to complate. It is also declared that this water is a peace water to  not only  Northen Cyprus but also to all Cyprus Island. Factors such as climate change impact on water resources will push countries in the Eastern Mediterranean to think about closer cooperation. “Climate change is everybody’s problem. and Eastern Medierranean countries should be much closer to each other now. Turkey hopes to take the first step this year towards long-held ambitions to be a supplier of fresh water to Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey is not to use the water supply project to Cyprus as an instrument to force power across the region. When we look into current conditions in the regional states, it can be seen that it is not that easy to force power taking into account all the global powers have been settled in the region for long time now. By the same token, the project can help to build peace and stability in the region, should its importance is well comprehended. It is not the first time that Turkey’s fresh water resources have become the subject of such ambitious regional plans in the region. Turkey previously had planned to bring 50 billion cubic meters of water annually from the southern Turkish Manavgat River to Israel via tankers. The project was cancelled by Turkey in 2010. The first phase of the project is to pump fresh water from the Anamur River in southern Turkey to the drought-stricken Cyprus Island. The Project will supply water to Cyprus with the help of an 80-kilometer sub-sea pipeline floating under the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of 250 meters. Water to Cyprus That the water will flow to Cyprus Island should not be considered only as a bulk water transport . It also highlights an intention to come closer with the regional states. Vast natural gas fields that have been discovered under the Eastern Mediterranean Sea near the coasts of Israel, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus seem to potentially strain the relations among these countries in the region. Strained relations  could create a spill over effect on other vital cooperation issues in the region. Hence, It is hoped that the Cyprus water pipeline would serve to overcome such bottlenecks by means of  leading to joint projects in the energy sector. Turkish politicians state that they are open to the idea of providing water to the Greek part of the island as well. Actually, this peace water supply project shouldn’t be limited to Cyprus itself. Rivers in Turkey’s southern coast have the potential to provide water for similar projects to benefit countries, islands around the region We have to look to tomorrow considering the day after tomorrow Progresses in technology have meant that international water supply projects are back on the agenda with an expediting effect thattechnological development is helping to bring down costs. Considering rapid development of the strategic importance of the Eastern Mediterranean since the last decade It is of vital importance to look beyond today, we have to look to tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Countries in the region already have  an opportunity for cooperation in transfering oil, gas and water in mutually advantageous way. Consequently, water and gas pipelines are doomed to play very important role in the future of the region’s fate. Should you push the limits of hegemonic notion  it can be said that the project could somehow help leverage  Turkey’s regional ambitions. Butits effect would be marginal and highly depend on the architecture of sustainable security of the region. But we can see that more contribution can be available if the project is used for the advantage of the whole regional development, peace and stability. Biography Dursun Yıldız is a hydropolitics expert and Director of the Hydropolitics Academy Association located in Ankara-Turkey .He is a civil engineer and used to be Deputy Director at State Hydraulic Works in Turkey; completed hydro informatics post graduate course at the IHE in Delft,Technical training programme in USSR- USA and a master degree in Hydropolitics at the Hacettepe University-Turkey. He has over 5 years of  teaching experiences in some Turkish Universities and now works as head of his own Hydro Energy & Strategy consulting company located in Ankara. He has published several international articles and 11 Books. He received Most Succesful Researacher Award on International Water Issues  from Turkish Agricultural Association in 2008.  dyildiz@hidropolitikakademi.org