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TITLE: Arabs Condemn Turkish-Israeli Cooperation on Water |
AUTHOR: |
PUB: AFP |
DATE: February 5, 2001 |
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The Arab League on Monday accused Turkey and Israel of threatening Arab security by working on Turkish water projects likely to deprive downstream neighbors Syria and Iraq of supplies. "This cooperation amounts to a real danger to Arab security in water, and for Arab national security in general," the league said in a report that was published here and will be submitted to Arab foreign ministers in March. Ankara has awarded Israel six irrigation projects, the report said, quoting Syrian information. "These measures are illegal as long as Turkey does not consult the other states" which share the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, such as Syria and Iraq, the document said. Turkey, a secular non-Arab Muslim country, has good relations with Israel, with which it signed in 1996 a framework accord on military cooperation, angering most Arab countries as well as Iran. Israel also signed last June an agreement calling for the purchase of drinking water from Turkey. END |