The security-environmental effect of the GAP project (Turkey) on downstream countries; considerations of International Law

If once the issue of "water war" was mainly considered in the writings of researchers for the future, now that future has become a reality and the world is actually involved in water war in different places. The Middle East and the Mesopotamia in its heart are not doing well in this regard, and we have been witnessing the effects of this drought and its crisis in the occurrence of intra-border and cross-border conflicts for years, and Syria and Iraq are prime examples of this. Perhaps two categories of factors can be considered in this context, the first is the natural factor, although the governments have aggravated it with their wrong plans and policies, and the second is completely done by human intervention, which has disrupted the ecosystem cycle and caused serious environmental problems. Created. One of the wrong policies and programs has been diverting water streams and creating numerous dams without planning and foresight. One of these noisy and harmful policies and programs is Turkey's water super projects, especially the Gap project, which has caused acute environmental problems for the downstream countries, namely Iraq and Syria, and then Iran, with the construction of various dams on the Tigris and Euphrates. The GAP project has many effects and environmental consequences, and this article tries to study this issue in a glance of international law, and while examining the legal dimensions of Turkey's actions, its security and environmental effects for the downstream countries will be determined. Therefore, in order to achieve the goals specified in this article, this central question will be addressed: "What are the security and environmental effects of Turkey's hydroelectricity (with emphasis on the GAP project) for the neighbors of this country (Syria, Iraq and Iran)?"