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Politics, climate conspire as Tigris and Euphrates dwindle

Turkish farmer Ata Yigit checks a cornfield which is part of his 4,500 acres farm that he uses the Southeast Anatolia Project water pipe to irrigate most of it in the Kiziltepe district of Mardin province, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022.(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) A general view of the Ilisu Dam reservoir is seen in Mardin province, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Before Turkey began operating the dam in May 2020, all the waters of Tigris River flowed into Iraq. Now how much water comes down depends on Ankara's consideration of Iraq's month-to-month requests for a minimum flow, weighed against Turkey's own needs. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) A worker walks past turbines of the hydraulic power plant in the Ilisu Dam in Mardin, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022.Before Turkey began operating the dam in May 2020, all the waters of Tigris River flowed into Iraq. Now how much water comes down depends on Ankara's consideration of Iraq's month-to-month requests for a minimum flow, weighed against Turkey's own needs. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Tigris river flows from the Ilisu Dam reservoir is seen in Mardin province, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Before Turkey began operating the dam in May 2020, all the waters of Tigris River flowed into Iraq. Now how much water comes down depends on Ankara's consideration of Iraq's month-to-month requests for a minimum flow, weighed against Turkey's own needs. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Tigris river flows from the Ilisu Dam reservoir is seen in Mardin province, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Before Turkey began operating the dam in May 2020, all the waters of Tigris River flowed into Iraq. Now how much water comes down depends on Ankara's consideration of Iraq's month-to-month requests for a minimum flow, weighed against Turkey's own needs. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) A general view of the Ilisu Dam is seen in Mardin province, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Before Turkey began operating the dam in May 2020, all the waters of Tigris River flowed into Iraq. Now how much water comes down depends on Ankara's consideration of Iraq's month-to-month requests for a minimum flow, weighed against Turkey's own needs. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Tigris river flows from the Ilisu Dam reservoir is seen in Mardin province, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Before Turkey began operating the dam in May 2020, all the waters of Tigris River flowed into Iraq. Now how much water comes down depends on Ankara's consideration of Iraq's month-to-month requests for a minimum flow, weighed against Turkey's own needs. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) Tigris river flows from the Ilisu Dam reservoir is seen in Mardin province, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Before Turkey began operating the dam in May 2020, all the waters of Tigris River flowed into Iraq. Now how much water comes down depends on Ankara's consideration of Iraq's month-to-month requests for a minimum flow, weighed against Turkey's own needs. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) A general view of the Ilisu Dam reservoir is seen in Mardin province, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Before Turkey began operating the dam in May 2020, all the waters of Tigris River flowed into Iraq. Now how much water comes down depends on Ankara's consideration of Iraq's month-to-month requests for a minimum flow, weighed against Turkey's own needs. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) The irrigation channel in the district of Dawwayeh is dry due to low water levels as a result of back to back drought and severe cuts by the Iraqi government. Farmers have complained of widespread crop failure and many have left their lands for the cities, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Sept. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil). Water levels in the Chibayish marshes of southern Iraq are declining and fishermen say certain water-ways are no longer accessible by boat, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday Sept. 2, 2022. The Tigris-Euphrates river flows have fallen by 40% the past four decades as the states along its length - Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq pursue rapid, unilateral development of the waters' use. (AP Photo/Anmal Khalil) Fisherman fill their boats with collected fresh water as the sun sets in the marshes of Chibayish which has suffered fresh water shortages because of declining river levels and drought, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday Sept. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) Dead fish are collected along the river bank in the marshes of Chibayish which has suffered from high levels of salinity this year, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday Sept. 2, 2022. The Tigris-Euphrates river flows have fallen by 40% the past four decades as the states along its length - Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq pursue rapid, unilateral development of the waters' use. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) A fisherman walks across a dry patch of land in the marshes of southern Iraq which has suffered dire consequences from back to back drought and rising salinity levels, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday Sept. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) Hamza Noor stores collected fresh water in an unused boat to feed water buffalos in the marshes, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. The Tigris-Euphrates river flows have fallen by 40% the past four decades as the states along its length - Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq - pursue rapid, unilateral development of the waters' use. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) Marsh women cast a fishing net in in the Chibayish marshes of southern Iraq which has suffered from high levels of salinity, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) Boys play in the water of the Chibayish marshes in southern Iraq which has suffered from high salinity levels as a result of back to back drought and declining water levels, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday Sept. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) Water buffalo herders in the Chibayish marshes ferry water collected in water cannisters to feed their thirsty animals suffering from high salinity levels in the water, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday September 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) Hamza Noor brings out his livestock to feed them collected fresh water in the marshes of southern Iraq where salinity levels have killed many animals this year, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday Sept. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) A fisherman walks across a dry patch of land in the marshes of southern Iraq which has suffered dire consequences from back to back drought and rising salinity levels, in Dhi Qar province, Iraq, Friday Sept. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)