Water Crisis and Ethnic Conflicts in Iran-Hamzeh Arbabi

26 September 2016 23:12

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news code: 5944

Water Crisis and Ethnic Conflicts in Iran-Hamzeh Arbabi

Written by Hamzeh Arbabi- Aerospace Engineering Student at Middle East Technical University

The Chatham House Institute which is recognized as the second best think tank worldwide, according to a University of Pennsylvania research (Top 30 Think Tanks – http://goo.gl/swCy6F) stated in an article written by Mark Zeytoon that Middle East waters are going to cause future wars in the region (eshraf. ir: The Geopolitical Importance of Middle East Waters – http://goo.gl/UYAlum). In addition to this warning of the Chatham House Institute, United States Institute of Peace stated in an article written by David Michel which argues that the imminent dangers from the environmental threats imposed by Iran are far greater than the political tensions caused by the country. He mentions that the water crisis in Iran will cause deep troubles for the country in the near future (modiriran. ir: http://goo.gl/xWtOfP).

In 2013, the World Resources Institute has published an article concerning the water tensions in the world. The summary of this article has depicted on a map shown here. Iran has placed in a critical condition with the highest tensions.

In addition to the water crisis in Iran, ethno-national studies indicate that there are ethnic tensions between the regions in Iran. Yahya Rahim Safavi, who served as the chief commander of Sepah, has published an article under the title of Ethnic Crisis Management, which he has acknowledged to the ethnic crisis in Iran and addressed the underlying factors leading to it. He mentions that one of the sensitive points that has weekend Islamic Republic of Iran has been the demands of ethnic groups which are also considered as a strategic act for Iran.

Assessment of the politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the past thirty years has indicated that politicians have always been silent and in denial towards the ethnic group demands. However, advancements in the mass communications and reduce in the effect of censorships have led to increase in progress for the ethnic group demands in Iran which are evidenced by the presence of the different protests regarding this issue across the country. The ethno-national activists in Iran consider the current political system as racist and discriminatory which is in contrast to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and demand reforms in this regard.

However, the point worth mentioning is that the social consequences of the water crisis and the ethnic crisis are merging together. The recent complaints about the water crisis in different regions of Iran have started to be in-line with ethno-national protests. The prominent examples of these complaints include, the Azerbaijan people in the northwestern region of Iran about the Urmia lake drying disaster, Arabs in the southwestern regions about The Karun river and its path divergent to the central part of Iran and last but least the Baloch people in southeastern regions about the political actions towards the drying of The human river.

The Urmia lake which is the largest lake in The Middle East and Western Asia is drying ever so rapidly. The satellite images in the year 2015 has shown that the lake has lost 88% of its original area (http://goo.gl/tsmKco). There have been different speculations regarding the reasons for drying of the lake. Even though the responsible party in the Islamic Republic of Iran claim that the main reason has been due to droughts, a study conducted by North American scientists show that the mentioned droughts have caused only 5% of the reduction in the amount of the rainfall into the river and instead human activities such as excessive water extraction projects and the fifteen kilometer highway construction on the lake has put the lake in such a critical condition (http://goo.gl/tsmKco). According to the civil activists claim in Azerbaijan regions, the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran have deliberately planed on drying this lake in order to make the regional turks migrate from places near the lake. The drying of The Urmia lake and the disregarding political approaches of the authorities have caused many protests in different cities of the Azerbaijan regions and led to arrest of tens of protesters by the national guard (http://araznews.org/en/archives/582).

The Karun river is the most affluent and biggest river in Iran. This river has also been mentioned in the ancient writings and the first civilizations have started near this river. The people residing near the Karun river are the Arabs in Iran. In order to alleviate the droughts in Fars regions of Esfehan, authorities have tried to redirect the water of this river to the central regions of Iran under the project name of Behesht Abad. The mentioned project has caused the protests of Arabs who are residing near this river and giving Arabic shouts regarding this decision of the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Hamun lake was considered as the seventh biggest lake in the world and biggest fresh water lake in Iran before it was dried out. The people who where residing near this lake were three thousand Baloch families in Iran who were forced to migrate to other regions (According to Mrs. Halimeh Aali, the Zabol representative in the parliament). After The Hamun lake dried out, hundreds of Sistan and Baluchestan Province villages have surrounded by sand storms. The disastrous situation had such a critical condition that the previous Zabol representative in the parliament warned the evacuation of the Sistan Province (http://goo.gl/n5pWPs). In December 26 of 2013, while head of the Environment Institute in Iran, Mrs. Masoomeh Ebtekar, was visiting Sistan and Baluchestan Province, a group of Baloch people living in the region has come together in order to protest for saving The Hamun lake (http://goo.gl/XXUWqN).