ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A major water sharing deal between Baghdad and Ankara is set to take “full effect” soon following the signing of an agreement last month, an advisor to Iraq’s prime minister said on Sunday, with preparations in the “final” stages. 

“The Iraqi and Turkish sides are in the process of finalizing these matters to notify each side of the readiness for the memorandum to enter into effect,” Torhan al-Mufti, the Iraqi prime minister’s advisor for water affairs, told the state newspaper. “The agreement will enter into full effect in the coming period.” 

In early November, Ankara and Baghdad signed a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at easing Iraq’s water crisis by focusing on desalination projects, water treatment, and the construction of dams to manage cross-border flows.

According to Mufti, the deal is in its “final preparations, which include logistics and administration cooperation between the two countries.” 

Iraq was hit by rainfall and flash floods earlier in December, with large parts of the country seeing rainfall in excess of 120 millimeters in some areas. The floods contributed to an increase in water reserves by approximately 700 million cubic meters, according to the water resources ministry.

But the country is still facing one of its worst droughts on record, with climate change driving water shortages, desertification, and displacement. 

“The memorandum is also linked to a number of Iraqi government agencies, and there are administrative measures” that need to be taken before its implementation, Mufti noted, hoping that “its completion will not take a long time.” 

The United Nations has ranked Iraq among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, while authorities have warned that water reserves have fallen to dangerous levels, making conservation and careful management essential.

Iraqi officials routinely attribute the country’s declining water levels to Turkey’s expanded dam network. In September, the Green Iraq Observatory warned that Ankara’s dam network has drastically reduced Iraq’s water inflows, intensifying an already severe crisis. 

Turkey has built about 20 dams over four decades, holding roughly 80 billion cubic meters of water, eight times the capacity of Iraq’s Mosul Dam.