The Last Free River of Mesopotamia
Alex kemman

Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance of Utrecht University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Global Criminology.
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The Greater Zab is the last free flowing river in Mesopotamia (the land between two rivers - roughly southeastern Turkey, Syria, Iraq and parts of Iran). It completely flows through the Kurdish heartland. The river originates in the mountains of Hakkari, Turkey and 450 km southwards it joins the Tigris river in the flatlands around Mosul, Iraq.
The river is crucial to the lives of people and nature in the region. It provides the much needed water in this generally dry region. Since the Greater Zab is a key tributary of the Tigris river. It's importance extends all along this river's course too, all the way down towards the Persian gulf.
I lived several months in Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan. Here I scrutinized the future plans regarding the river and what effects this may have. According those plans the Greater Zab river probably will not run free much longer. Governments and dam companies form a joint venture to commodify its flow. Under the pretext of national development the river should provide the electric needs and irrigation of many. In reality those benefits are questionable and flora and fauna may be sacrificed without a reasonable cause.
Besides questions of development, water and rivers are also intrinsically political subjects. This becomes particularly clear in the contested Kurdish region. Some dams are supposedly to bar the movements of PKK guerillas, or according others to submerge Kurdish heritage. Despite such ethnic framing, water in general and the question of ownership is permeated with politics and power, as such the Greater Zab gives many insights in the region as a whole.
“The root of the water is the mountain, and the mountain is where the Kurds and the PKK are. It's where the rivers come from and that's why they want to push us of the mountains.”