Status of hydropower and water resources in the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) of Turkey

Anthropogenic Factors Affecting the Vegetation Dynamics in the Arid Middle East

“…A major concern for Syria, Iran and Iraq countries in not only Atatürk Dam or Ilisu Dam having 10 billion m 3 of capacity, but the entire Turkish multi-dam project. The volume of the reservoirs created by Turkish dams built within GAP project on the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates is 120 billion cubic meters, while the annual flow of these two rivers is 47 billion cubic meters [127,129,130]. The Ilisu Dam, built upstream from the existing Mosul Dam in Iraq, has drained most of the Mosul Dam catchment area.…”

“…The Ilisu Dam, built upstream from the existing Mosul Dam in Iraq, has drained most of the Mosul Dam catchment area. The originally planned Mosul Dam watershed (with area of 54,900 km 2 ) has been reduced to about one-fifth of the total area [129,130]. The negative effect of the Turkish dams construction on the vegetation of Syria and Iraq is visible in Figure 11, presenting selected parts of the maps from Figure 6 to highlight the details.…”

Analysis of Hydrological Drought Trends in the Gap Region (Southeastern Turkey) by Mann-Kendall Test and Innovative Şen Method

“…1). The Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, located in the GAP, have the largest flow volume of 16.9% and 11.4% of Turkey's average annually runoff (186 10 9 m 3 ), respectively (Altinbilek and Tortajada, 2012;Kankal et al, 2016). In general, the summer season in the region is very hot and under the influence of dry and warm tropical air mass while the winter is warm and rainy.…”

“…The mean annual temperature is about 18 °C, due to the high summer temperatures that approach 40 °C in daytime (Yilmaz, 2018). (Kankal et al, 2016) The GAP region constitute approximately 10.7% of Turkey's total population (80.8 million, in 2018), and it is estimated that approximately 20% of total irrigable land and 28% of the country's energy potential are in this region (GAP, 2018 An irrigable area of 18 10 3 km 2 is planned to be irrigated in the GAP region, and at the first stage, economically irrigable area of 10.6 10 3 km 2 is foreseen to be completed. The progress of the dams and hydroelectric power plants in the GAP region is presented in Figure 1 according to the project level.…”

“…The Southeastern Anatolia Project (in Turkish the GAP) is one of the most ambitious regional development projects in Turkey encompassing not only hydropower and irrigation infrastructure development, but also all related sectors including industry, transportation, rural and urban infrastructure, environmental protection and social sectors (Kankal et al, 2016). Therefore, an integrated approach that especially focuses on water resources is essential to achieve the planned objectives.…”