Badr bloc threatens to sever ties with Turkey over water crisis

BAGHDAD – The Badr parliamentary bloc on Wednesday threatened to sever all political and economic relations with Turkey if Ankara continues what it described as a “clear hostile act” of restricting water flows to Iraq.

Mahdi Taqi Amerli, head of the Shiite bloc affiliated with the Badr Organization, warned that unless a water-sharing agreement is reached within days, the group will support what he called “unexpected measures” in response.

“We give both governments a few days; either a comprehensive agreement is reached and Iraq’s water share is released immediately, or we will take steps no one may have anticipated,” Amerli said in a statement.

He accused Turkey of drying Iraq’s rivers and warned the group would not “stand idle in the face of this existential threat.”

Amerli added that Iraq’s economic leverage should be used to pressure Ankara, noting: “We will pressure — even force — the Iraqi government to cut all economic relations with Turkey, since Iraq is Turkey’s number one importer and one of its vital economic arteries.”

“Everything can wait — except the drying of rivers and the disruption of life in Iraq. That is non-negotiable,” he said.

The Badr Organization is both a political party and paramilitary force led by Hadi Al-Amiri, and wields significant influence in parliament.

Iraq’s Minister of Water Resources Aoun Dhiab said in July that Turkey had not released the agreed volume of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, contradicting earlier statements by Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani. The speaker had said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreed to increase the flow beginning July 2.