Turkey-Iraq Water-Energy Cooperation is a hydro-strategically important step
Under the agreement signed between Turkey and Iraq, infrastructure modernisation and construction projects aimed at the efficient, effective and sustainable use of Iraq's water resources will be undertaken by Turkish companies, with financing provided through a system based on Iraqi oil sales.
Turkish and Iraqi ministers signed the mechanism enabling the implementation of the 2024 Water Agreement. This agreement paves the way for Turkish companies to modernise Iraq's water infrastructure through oil-linked financing. As part of a broader framework agreement between the two countries, Turkey and Iraq signed a ‘mechanism document’ on Sunday, 2 November 2025, for the financing of cooperation projects in the water sector.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein signed the ‘Mechanism Document on the Financing of Projects under the Framework Agreement on Water Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Republic of Iraq.’ This is a concrete step towards implementing the Water Cooperation Framework Agreement signed during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Baghdad in 2024.
Under this mechanism, infrastructure modernisation and construction projects aimed at the efficient, effective and sustainable use of Iraq's water resources will be undertaken by Turkish companies, and financing will be provided through a system based on Iraqi oil sales.
With this arrangement, Turkey aims to increase its contribution to improving Iraq's water infrastructure and enhancing the efficiency of water resource management.
This agreement takes discussions on water beyond the traditional water sharing condition and presents a vision for the most efficient use of water in the region through cooperation. The ultimate goal of the agreement is to ensure the most efficient use of water resources through joint projects.
The decline in water resources in the region due to global climate change and the resulting water stress are also being felt in Turkey.
Under the agreement, Turkey will increase its contribution to the development of Iraq's water infrastructure and the more efficient use of water resources. The ‘Framework Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Water’ signed on 22 April 2024 and the ‘Financial Mechanism’ document signed on 2 November 2025 mark the beginning of a new strategic era in economic and commercial relations between the two countries.
The agreement will play a role in increasing mutual cooperation and trust between the two countries in water management. The ultimate goal of the signed agreement is to ensure more efficient use of water in the region. This will be achieved not only through water sharing negotiations but also through an innovative approach to cooperation in the water-energy field. Iraq's Development Road project will also play an important role in this vision of cooperation between the two countries. In April 2024, a multilateral memorandum of understanding on the IDRP was signed between Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and the UAE.
The Iraq-Turkey link of the project has significant potential as a ‘shortcut’ in Asia/Europe logistics. This project has the potential to increase economic infrastructure and logistics integration between Turkey and Iraq. For Turkey, this project offers the opportunity to gain a logistics bridge function, while for Iraq, it offers economic development potential. However, it should not be overlooked that the success of the project depends on financing, security and geopolitical parameters.
A Regional Cooperation Vision Exists
The simultaneous implementation of the Turkey–Iraq Water and Energy Cooperation Framework Agreement (2024) and the Development Road Project is no coincidence; it demonstrates that cooperation is being approached with a broad regional vision. There is also a project in the region, such as GAP, that will support the development of this cooperation. When the agricultural production capacity of GAP is combined with the export infrastructure provided by the Development Corridor, a new logistics route for agricultural and industrial exports may emerge.
The coordination of Energy and Water Management, together with the Development Corridor, will create a very important dynamic for regional development. This vision will present a strategic opportunity between Turkey and Iraq in terms of ensuring the integration of water and energy security, which are key to economic growth in the region, and the formation of an international logistics route.
This approach moves Turkey-Iraq relations beyond traditional cross-border water diplomacy to a multidimensional water-energy-transport axis. However, there are also some hydrological, geopolitical, security and financing risks associated with implementing this approach in the region. Turkey considers the Euphrates and Tigris river basins as a single basin. The only agreement made for this basin is the protocol signed between Turkey and Syria in 1987 under the ‘Protocol on Economic Cooperation,’ in which Turkey committed to leaving an average annual flow of 500 m³/s in the Euphrates branch on the Syrian border. Following this protocol, the ‘Syria–Iraq Water Sharing Agreement’ signed in Damascus in 1989 stipulated that Syria would commit to releasing 58% of the water coming from Turkey to Iraq.
Turkey has not officially recognised this agreement. It has argued that no third party can establish a ruling on the international status of the Euphrates without Turkey's participation. Therefore, the 1989 Damascus Agreement has only been binding between Syria and Iraq and has not created any obligations for Turkey under international law. However, due to Iraq's internal instability after 2003 and the Syrian civil war after 2011, technical committee meetings could not be held, and the measurement and sharing of Euphrates River flows have effectively ceased.
The ongoing political uncertainty in Syria appears to be delaying the determination of the amount of water to be transferred from the Euphrates to Iraq. In this case, Turkey's water-energy cooperation with Syria will be conducted through the waters of the Tigris River, and the signing of a trilateral agreement will take time. This situation will create the risk that the uncertainty regarding Iraq's use of Euphrates waters will continue beyond Turkey's control.
Overcoming the thresholds created by these risks will be directly related to the tripartite nature of the water management agreement in the basin and the elimination of political uncertainties in the basin.
