§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister what information is available to Her Majesty's Government about the amount of water taken from the Euphrates and its tributaries and sources by water requirements in(a) Turkey and (b) Syria.
§ The Prime MinisterThere are a variety of figures available on the quantities of water withdrawn from the River Euphrates and its tributaries and sources, by Turkey and Syria. The following figures are taken from the World Resources Institute report for 1990–91. Within the national boundaries of Syria 4,500 million cubic metres of water per year—MCM/yr—were generated and 4,700 MCM/yr extracted. The figures for Turkey were 28,200 MCM/yr generated and 3,100 MCM/yr extracted.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister what evidence is available to Her Majesty's Government that draining constitutes the reason why water courses, linked to the Euphrates river, are dried up.
§ The Prime MinisterA stretch of 70 km of the Euphrates river is dry. On the evidence available there is no other possible explanation.