Problems of water management in Post-Soviet Central Asia

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Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Turkey

Approval Date: 2017

Student: EMRE ŞAMLI

Supervisor: PINAR KÖKSAL

Abstract:

This thesis examines the water-related problems that took place among the Central Asian Republics when the centrally-managed ‘water-energy nexus’ broke down with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The problems in the region are analyzed in terms of the two transboundary waters of Amu Darya and Syr Darya. While Tajikistan wants to build the Rogun Dam on Amu Darya, Kyrgyzstan tries to establish the Kambarata Dam-1 on Syr Darya. However, these attempts have been criticized by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan because they need water for irrigation. In other words, different needs of water for these countries create conflicts among them. Therefore, this thesis, by examining water as an unconventional security threat in the region, aims to clarify the questions of whether water has the potential to cause war in the region.