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Torhan al-Mufti, adviser to Iraq's prime minister for water affairs, said Monday the Iraqi-Turkish memorandum of understanding on water will enter into full force in the coming period, once administrative and logistical steps are completed.
Speaking to the nation's official newspaper, Al-Mufti said the MoU consists of three phases. The first was signed last year by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and the Turkish president.
The second, completed in November, involved signing the MoU's financing mechanism. The current third phase, he said, concerns final preparations, including logistical and administrative arrangements between the two countries.
Once these steps are completed in the coming period, the memorandum will fully take effect, he added, noting that Iraqi and Turkish sides are working to finalize the remaining details so each party can be formally notified of readiness for implementation.
Al-Mufti also said the memorandum is linked to several Iraqi government entities, requiring administrative correspondence, and expressed hope that finalizing the process will not take long.
On the projects expected to be implemented by the Turkish side under the agreement, he said most will focus on water-sector infrastructure, including land-reclamation projects, the construction of water-harvesting dams, and water treatment and improvement projects.
On Dec. 3, al-Mufti said the Iraq-Türkiye agreement regulating water releases was "on the verge" of entering into force "in the coming days," but it has yet to be implemented.
He added that Iraq has seen a tangible increase in water since the memorandum was signed, and the Turkish side has raised releases.
He noted that the "sustainability" component set out in the treaty provides for the continuity and long-term sustainability of water in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, based on the 2024 framework agreement memorandum, as well as the 2014 memorandum that was ratified by parliament and entered into force in 2021.
Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources has previously disclosed that the country's strategic water reserves in lakes have fallen to their lowest level since the Iraqi state was established in the 1930s. Specialists have warned of looming environmental and humanitarian disasters if the decline continues in the near future.
Iraq is among the five countries most affected worldwide by climate change and its repercussions, particularly drought.
A previous report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found that 12,212 Iraqi families had been displaced by drought across 10 provinces in central and southern Iraq, with Dhi Qar, Maysan and Diwaniyah topping the list of hardest-hit governorates.
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