Turkish Dam Set to Reduce Flows from Tigris to Iraq

A general view of the ancient town of Hasankeyf by the Tigris river, which will be significantly submerged by the Ilisu dam being constructed, in southeastern Turkey, June 1, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A general view of the ancient town of Hasankeyf by the Tigris river, which will be significantly submerged by the Ilisu dam being constructed, in southeastern Turkey, June 1, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Turkish Dam Set to Reduce Flows from Tigris to Iraq

A general view of the ancient town of Hasankeyf by the Tigris river, which will be significantly submerged by the Ilisu dam being constructed, in southeastern Turkey, June 1, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A general view of the ancient town of Hasankeyf by the Tigris river, which will be significantly submerged by the Ilisu dam being constructed, in southeastern Turkey, June 1, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Turkey has started filling a huge hydroelectric dam on the Tigris river, a lawmaker and activists said, despite protests that it will displace thousands of people and risks creating water shortages downstream in Iraq.

Citing satellite images, they said that water was starting to build up behind the Ilisu dam, a project that has been decades in the making and which aims to generate 1,200 megawatts of electricity for southeast Turkey.

Turkish officials have not commented on work at the dam, Reuters reported.

Turkey's State Hydraulic Works (DSI), which oversees dam projects, referred questions to the Presidency, and the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry was not available to comment.

However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this year that Turkey would start filling the Ilisu dam in June, a year after it briefly held back water before backing down following complaints from Iraq about reduced water flows in mid-summer.

According to Reuters, the dam, which first gained Turkish government approval in 1997, is a key part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Project, designed to improve its poorest and least developed region.

Iraq says the dam will create water shortages by reducing flows in one of two rivers which the country depends on for much of its supplies. Around 70 percent of Iraq's water supplies flow from neighboring countries, especially via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which run through Turkey.

Satellite images from the past two weeks show the dam has started holding water, said Necdet Ipekyuz, a lawmaker from Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). He said a road in the area has already been submerged.

"They are taking steps slowly to decrease the reactions to water being held. That is why they are not informing the public," he said, adding that several HDP lawmakers tried to visit the dam in July but were prevented by police.

Environmental campaigners have unsuccessfully challenged the dam project at the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds it would damage the country's cultural heritage.



US State Department Approves $30 Million in Funding for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

 Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
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US State Department Approves $30 Million in Funding for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

 Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)

The US State Department has approved $30 million in funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the State Department said on Thursday, calling on other countries to also support the controversial group delivering aid in war-torn Gaza.

"This support is simply the latest iteration of President Trump's and Secretary Rubio's pursuit of peace in the region," State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters at a regular news briefing.

Reuters was first to report the move earlier this week.

Washington has long backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation diplomatically, but this is the first known US government financial contribution to the organization, which uses private for-profit US military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution at so-called secure sites.

Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from both the UN and GHF operations.

Earlier this month, GHF halted aid deliveries for a day as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety near its distribution sites after dozens of Palestinians seeking aid were killed. It says there have been no incidents at its sites.

The foundation’s executive director, Johnnie Moore, an evangelical preacher who was a White House adviser in the first Trump administration, said in a post on X on Thursday that the group has delivered more than 46 million meals to Gazans since it began its operations in May.

Some US officials opposed giving any US funds to the foundation over concerns about violence near aid distribution sites, the GHF's inexperience and the involvement of the for-profit US logistics and private military firms, four sources told Reuters earlier this week.

The United States could approve additional monthly grants of $30 million for the GHF, two sources said, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

In approving the US funding for the GHF, the sources said the State Department exempted the foundation, which has not publicly disclosed its finances, from an audit usually required for groups receiving USAID grants for the first time.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants.