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Meric River Basin: Transboundary Water Cooperation at the Border between the EU and Turkey

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Turkey's Water Policy

Abstract

The Meric basin, one of the major river systems of the eastern Balkans, is shared by Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Water needs for irrigation and flood control are the main disputed issues in the basin, particularly between Turkey and Bulgaria. In the past, political distrust between the three countries hampered co-operation. However, recent rapprochement between Turkey and Greece, Bulgaria’s joining of the European Union (EU) and the prospect of EU membership for Turkey are expected to have positive effects on transboundary water management.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Other spellings include Merich, Maritza, Marica, Hebros.

  2. 2.

    Other spellings include Ardas, Tunca, Tundzha.

  3. 3.

    As the Meric river forms the border between Greece and Turkey, Turkish authorities consider it to be an “international river” between Turkey and Greece and a “transboundary river” where it crosses the border between Bulgaria and Turkey (Yanik 1997).

  4. 4.

    In addition, the area enjoys the status of a Special Protection Area (Directive 79/409/EEC for the conservation of birds and their habitats) and as a Site of Community Importance (Directive 92/43/EEC for the conservation of natural habitats as well as the wild fauna and flora - NATURA 2000 Network).

  5. 5.

    Artinyan et al. 2007; personal communication with Roumen Arsov, Faculty of Hydrotechnics, University of Architecture, Civil Engineering & Geodesy, 20 June 2006, and Dobri Dimitrov, National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), 26 June 2006.

  6. 6.

    From 1.2 BCM in 1991 to less than 0.1 BCM in 1997 (ECSSD 2003).

  7. 7.

    For more detailed information see “The Study on Integrated Water Management in the Republic of Bulgaria. Presentation for the Basin Council Meeting of EABD. December 11th, 2007”. http://www.bd-ibr.org/details_file_download.php?a_id=347&PHPSESSID=3f7aba02355508783449df362e0a6f19. Accessed 17 July 2010.

  8. 8.

    Personal communication with Mariyana Nikolova, Institute of Geography, Bulgarian Academy of Science, 27 June 2006.

  9. 9.

    Estimated recurrence interval of this flood event was 1,000 years (UNECE 2009b).

  10. 10.

    ,000 hectares of agricultural land were damaged and two bridges collapsed (personal email correspondence with officials from the Devlet Su Isleri (DSI) Edirne Regional Office, 03 June 2005).

  11. 11.

    See Dimitrov (no year) http://www.balwois.com/balwois/administration/full_paper/ffp-873.pdf. Accessed 17 July 2010.

  12. 12.

    According to REUTERS the worst floods in 15 years (cited from Visible Earth / http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=20541 accessed 17 July 2010).

  13. 13.

    Personal communication with Dobri Dimitrov, NIMH, 26 June 2006, and Thymio Papayannis, WWF Greece, 20 June 2006; see also Darama 2009.

  14. 14.

    Personal communication with Thymio Papayannis, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Greece, 20 June 2006, Stelios Skias, Democritus University of Thrace, 29 June 2006, and Spyros Tasoglou, Central Water Agency, Greek Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works, 20 June 2006; see also Darama 2009 and Skias and Kallioras 2007.

  15. 15.

    Personal communication with Stelios Skias, Democritus University of Thrace, 29 June 2006.

  16. 16.

    Personal communication with Stelios Skias, Democritus University of Thrace, 29 June 2006, and Dobri Dimitrov, NIMH, 26 June 2006.

  17. 17.

    Known in Turkey as the Turkish War of Liberation.

  18. 18.

    According to the former Greece Minister of Foreign Affairs, George A. Papandreou, the most important achievement attained up to this point concerns the establishment of communication between appropriate carriers. http://www.papandreou.gr/papandreou/content/Document.aspx?d=6&rd=7739474&f=1380&rf=2038276612&m=4565&rm=9378861&l=1. Accessed 17 July 2010.

  19. 19.

    Agreed Minutes of the third meeting of the Greek-Turkish Joint Committee on environmental cooperation. Available at http://www.ecolex.org/server2.php/libcat/docs/bi-82300.pdf. Accessed 16 March 2010.

  20. 20.

    http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110374. Accessed 17 July 2010.

  21. 21.

    http://noe.orf.at/stories/387176/, Accessed 17 July 2010.

  22. 22.

    The Protocol of the Fifteenth Session of the Turkish-Bulgarian Joint Committee for Economic and Technical Cooperation contains provisions on trade and economic relations: bilateral trade relations, trade promotion activities, standardisation, industry and transport (inter alia, road transport and maritime transport), telecommunications and postal services, agriculture, and environment (Sofia, 22-23 January 2002, Resmi Gazete, 2002-07-03, No. 24804, 3-36; see Annex 7).

  23. 23.

    Joint construction of the Suakacagi Dam has been planned with Bulgaria starting in 1968 but has not been completed until to date. The dam would irrigate 50,000 hectares, protect 2,000 hectares from being flooded and operate three turbines, two on the Bulgarian and one on the Turkish side to generate 100 Gigawatt per hour (GWh)/year energy.

  24. 24.

    Framework agreement between the NIMH and the DSI, signed on 27 November 2002.

  25. 25.

    Agreement between The Ministry for the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works of the Hellenic Republic And The Ministry of Environment and Water of the Republic of Bulgaria On Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection, 2002. The main objective of the agreement is to promote cooperation in various areas of environmental protection, e.g. water, coastal zones, bioderversity, spatial planning and environmental impact assessment.

  26. 26.

    Capacity Improvement for Flood Forecasting of Meric/Evros River Basin in the BG-GR CBC Region, Project Fiche available at http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/fiche_projet/document/2006_018-387.03.02%20Capacity%20Improvement%20for%20Flood%20Forecasting.pdf. Accessed 23 March 2010.

  27. 27.

    The network Euroregion Evros-Maritza-Meric for example, was established in 2001 through an agreement signed by representatives of the Border Line Unions and the Prefectures of Evros (Greece), Edirne (Turkey), and the area of Haskovo (Bulgaria). For more information see http://www.evroregion.gr/profile.html. Accessed 17 July 2010.

  28. 28.

    See Hürriyet “A city sinks for want of international cooperation,” 16 March 2006, http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/4090775_p.asp. Accessed 17 July 2010, and Darama 2009.

  29. 29.

    Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks that entered into force on 26 November 2007, and aims to reduce and manage the risks of floods. The proposed management approach shows parallels to the Water Framework Directive (WFD), particularly with regard to the management by river basin districts according to WFD Art. 3 and the coordination mechanisms (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/flood_risk/index.htm. Accessed 17 July 2010).

  30. 30.

    Personal email correspondence with Thymio Papayannis, MedWet Senior Advisor, 12 April 2005.

  31. 31.

    For further information see http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/ipa/turkey_environment_en.htm. Accessed 17 July 2010.

  32. 32.

    INWEB promotes joint training projects and the sharing of expertise, e.g. through web-based water databases and inventories of transboundary surface and groundwaters in the Balkans and the Mediterranean region. For more information on this initiative see http://www.inweb.gr.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. adelphi, Berlin, Germany

    Annika Kramer

  2. Alina Schellig, Berlin, Germany

    Alina Schellig

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  1. Annika Kramer
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  1. Adelphi Research GmbH, Caspar-Theyß-Str. 14 A, Berlin, 14193, Berlin, Germany

    Annika Kramer

  2. Okan University, International Relations Department, Istanbul, Turkey

    Aysegul Kibaroglu

  3. Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolit, Tulpenfeld 6, Bonn, 53113, Berlin, Germany

    Waltina Scheumann

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Kramer, A., Schellig, A. (2011). Meric River Basin: Transboundary Water Cooperation at the Border between the EU and Turkey. In: Kramer, A., Kibaroglu, A., Scheumann, W. (eds) Turkey's Water Policy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19636-2_13

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