“Efficiently using and properly managing our water resources is a matter of national security”

 

Speaking at a ceremony for the start of excavation works for Silvan Tunnel, President Erdoğan said: “Türkiye is not a water-rich country, on the contrary, we are a water-stressed country. If we do not take the necessary measures and take action now, we may face much bigger problems. Preserving, efficiently using and properly managing our water resources before they reach the limit of depletion is not optional for our country, but a matter of national security.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed via videoconference the ceremony for the start of excavation works for Silvan Tunnel, the largest irrigation tunnel in Türkiye.

Highlighting that water is the source of life, production, civilization and energy, and that without water there is no life and abundance, President Erdoğan said: “In the past, people fought over oil and carbon fuels. Apparently, they will fight over water in the coming period, because water is the most strategic and valuable resource of this century.”

“TÜRKİYE IS NOT A WATER-RICH COUNTRY”

Pointing out that the pressure on water resources has been increasing in the last century due to climate change, drought, increasing population and urbanization, President Erdoğan said: “We have started to witness droughts, floods and forest fires more frequently. Last week, we had an agricultural frost that adversely affected many provinces in our country. Scientists say that much more difficult days await us in the future. We are all well aware of the fact that Türkiye is not a water-rich country. On the contrary, we are a water-stressed country. If we do not take the necessary measures and take action now, we may face much bigger problems. Preserving, efficiently using and properly managing our water resources before they reach the limit of depletion is not optional for our country, but a matter of national security. As the government, we view the water issue from this perspective and determine our policies accordingly.”

“In water-related fields, we invested a total of TL3 trillion 350 billion in current figures and opened 10 thousand 663 facilities. We built 3 times more dams than those built in the history of the Republic. In our 1,298 dams, we stored a total of 50 billion cubic meters of water. Thus, we increased the amount of stored water to 184 billion cubic meters. We opened 1,820 irrigation facilities. With the nearly 24 million decares of land we opened to irrigation, we increased the irrigated agricultural area to 72 million decares. In the newly-irrigated areas, we increased agricultural income by approximately TL250 billion per year. As a domestic and clean energy source, we commissioned 631 hydroelectric power plants. Thanks to these investments, we increased our production capacity from 45 billion kilowatt-hours to 112 billion kilowatt-hours. We completed 342 drinking water and 24 wastewater facilities to provide all 81 provinces with access to spring quality water. Thus, we provided 3.4 billion cubic meters of drinking and potable water to 41 million citizens annually,” President Erdoğan said.

“GAP WILL ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF 1.6 MILLION PEOPLE”

“The Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) is the most powerful development initiative of our Republic. With the realization of the projects within the scope of GAP, the Turkish economy will, inshallah, take off. We will gain TL150 billion annually in irrigation, TL77 billion annually in energy and TL18 billion annually in drinking water. GAP will also contribute to the employment of 1.6 million people. While approximately 200 thousand hectares of land was irrigated in GAP until 2002, the irrigated area increased to 674 thousand hectares thanks to the projects we have realized. We have completed 64 percent of the irrigation projects in the GAP Action Plan. In the last 23 years, we have commissioned gigantic projects such as Ilısu Prof. Dr. Veysel Eroğlu Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant, Mardin Ceylanpınar Main Canal, Kralkızı Dicle Main Canal and Suruç Tunnel,” President Erdoğan said.