Arab lawyers: The Turkish regime’s act of blocking water supplies from the Euphrates River to Syria a war crime

A number of Arab lawyers have affirmed that the Turkish regime’s blocking of water supplies to Syria from the Euphrates is a war crime and that the international community should interfere to stop this crime and hold the Turkish regime accountable for it.

Assistant Secretary General of the Arab Lawyers’ Union in Beirut Mu’een Ghazi said in a statement to SANA that depriving Syria from the Euphrates water is another crime by Erdogan’s regime added to its previous crimes of looting the Syrian people’s resources, stressing that these are war crimes that Erdogan’s regime should be held accountable for.”

Ghazi, who is one of the lawyers following up on the Turkish regime’s crime of looting of Syria factories in the north of the country, said that an all-out file on the Turkish regime’s crimes had been prepared to be submitted to the International Court of Justice. He pointed out that the value of the stolen Syrian factories is estimated at tens of billions of Syrian pounds.

 On his part, Chairman of the Iraqi Lawyers’ Syndicate Deyaa Al-Sa’di said that the greedy aspirations of the Turkish regime in neighboring countries have become increasingly clearer, pointing out that “by cutting off water supplies from the Euphrates to Syria and Iraq, the Turkish regime aims at depriving the Syrians and the Iraqis from their right in this river’s water, with complete disregard to the fact that rivers and seas are governed by international laws and rules that all countries should comply with.”

Al-Sa’di called for adopting a unified stance against the Turkish regime’s policies, a stance that focuses on the legal side which affirms that the Euphrates River is subjected to international rules.

In 1987, Syria and Turkey concluded an agreement saying that water supplies to Syria from the Euphrates on the Turkish side should not be less than 500 cubic meter/second so as to operate the electric turbines in the Euphrates Dam.

On his Part, Chairman of the Palestinian Lawyers’ Syndicate Jawad Obeidat said that the Turkish regime’s aggressive policies and attacks on the Syrian people are similar to the aggressive attacks of the Israeli occupation. He clarified that all legal documents as well as international agreements and treaties affirm that no country has the right to attack the territories of another neighboring country.

He stressed that the international community should support the Syrian state with the aim of deterring the Turkish occupation and hold it accountable for its crimes and violations in Syria.

Hamda Mustafa