Turkey plan to build dams on Aras River to turn 3 Iranian provinces into deserts: Univ. professor

Morad Delalat said at an event at Islamic Azad University in Tehran that the so-called Eastern Anatolia Project, known in Turkey as DAP, would “directly entangle” Iran.

“The objective of DAP is to heavily pressure downstream countries and cause political, economic, social, and security problems in them,” Delalat claimed.

He said the project entailed the construction of between 90 to 120 dams on Aras. One such a dam, one of the biggest envisioned, and one that has been built, have already reduced the flow of water from Aras by 30 percent.

The project, once fully implemented, would affect the three Iranian provinces of West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, and Ardebil, he said.

Delalat said another Turkish plan, the so-called Southeastern Anatolia Project, or GAP, had dried out Iraq, which had in turn affected Iran’s Khouzestan Province.

Iran is currently involved in a dispute with the Taliban government in Afghanistan over dam construction on Helmand River and a resultant drought in Iran’s Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province.

Iran has warned the Taliban to release the flow of water into Iran as per an agreement reached in 1973.