The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia. Originating in eastern Turkey, the Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab, which empties into the Persian Gulf.
The geography of Iraq is diverse and falls into five main regions: the desert, Upper Mesopotamia, the northern highlands of Iraq, Lower Mesopotamia, and the alluvial plain extending from around Tikrit to the Persian Gulf.
The Batman River is a major tributary of the Tigris, joining it near the source of Tigris called Dicle River in southeast Turkey. It originates in the Anti-Taurus Mountains and flows approximately from north to south, passing near the city of Batman and forming a natural border between the Batman Province and Diyarbakır Province. The historic Malabadi Bridge crosses the river near the town of Silvan. The region along the Batman River is known for its oil fields. The Batman Dam was built in 1999 in the upstream, together with the associated reservoir and hydroelectric power plant.
The Tigris and Euphrates, with their tributaries, form a major river system in Western Asia. From sources originating in eastern Turkey, they flow by/through Syria through Iraq into the Persian Gulf. The system is part of the Palearctic Tigris–Euphrates ecoregion, which includes Iraq and parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan.
Batman Province is a Turkish province southeast of Anatolia. The province's population exceeded 500,000 in 2010. The province is important because of its reserves and production of oil which was started in the 1940s. There is a 494-km long oil pipeline from Batman to the Turkish port of İskenderun. Cotton is the main agricultural product. A railway line connects Batman with the nearby provinces of Diyarbakır and Elâzığ and with the capital Ankara. The Batman River flows through the area. Batman with 246,700 inhabitants, is the provincial capital. The province is also of interest from an archaeological point of view. Sights include the Imam Abdullah Dervish monastery, the bridge of Camiü‘r Rızk and Hasankeyf. The majority of the province's population is Kurdish.
The Taurus Mountains, are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east. It is a part of the Alpide belt in Eurasia.
The Atatürk Dam, originally the Karababa Dam, is a zoned rock-fill dam with a central core on the Euphrates River on the border of Adıyaman Province and Şanlıurfa Province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Built both to generate electricity and to irrigate the plains in the region, it was renamed in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), the founder of the Turkish Republic. The construction began in 1983 and was completed in 1990. The dam and the hydroelectric power plant, which went into service after the upfilling of the reservoir was completed in 1992, are operated by the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ). The reservoir created behind the dam, called Lake Atatürk Dam, is the third largest in the world.
Devegeçidi Dam is one of the 22 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project of Turkey, Diyarbakır. It is near Diyarbakır on a branch of the Tigris river. It was constructed for irrigation purposes between 1965 and 1972.
Dicle Dam is one of the 21 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project of Turkey. These facilities are located within the provincial territory of Diyarbakır, at a distance of 50 kilometres to Diyarbakır city centre. More specifically, the dam and the hydroelectric power plant are located at a distance of 800 metres from the point of junction of the streams of Maden Stream and Dibni to form the Tigris, and 22 kilometres downstream of the Kralkızı Dam. Construction works were started in 1986 and the dam was completed in 1997. The dam has an installed hydroelectric capacity of 110 MW and is designed to ultimately irrigate 128,080 hectares. In 2001 a water transmission line and a water treatment plant were commissioned that provided about 85% of the drinking water for the city of Diyarbakir in 2010.
The Ilısu Dam is a concrete-face rock-fill dam on the Tigris near the village of Ilısu and along the border of Mardin and Şırnak Provinces in Turkey. It is one of the 22 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project and its purpose is hydroelectric power production, flood control and water storage. When operational, the dam will support a 1,200 MW power station and will form a 10.4 billion m3 reservoir. Construction of the dam began in 2006 and was originally expected to be completed by 2016. As part of the project, the much smaller Cizre Dam is to be constructed downstream for irrigation and power. The dam has drawn international controversy, because it will flood portions of ancient Hasankeyf and necessitate the relocation of people living in the region. Because of this, the dam lost international funding in 2008. Kurdish Kurdistan Workers' Party militants have also attacked infrastructure associated with the dam which led to construction delays.
Beth Nahrain ; "house of (two) rivers" is the name for the region known as Mesopotamia in the Syriac language. Geographically, it refers to the areas between and surrounding the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The Aramaic name loosely describes the area between and around the rivers, not only literally between the rivers. The area is considered by Assyrians as their homeland.
Cizre is a town and district of Şırnak Province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, on the border with Syria, just to the northwest of the Turkish–Syrian–Iraqi tripoint.
The Southeastern Anatolia Region is a geographical region of Turkey.
The Mesopotamian Marshes or Iraqi Marshes are a wetland area located in southern Iraq and partially in southwestern Iran and Kuwait. Historically the marshlands, mainly composed of the separate but adjacent Central, Hawizeh and Hammar Marshes, used to be the largest wetland ecosystem of Western Eurasia. It is a rare aquatic landscape in the desert, providing habitat for the Marsh Arabs and important populations of wildlife. Draining of portions of the marshes began in the 1950s and continued through the 1970s to reclaim land for agriculture and oil exploration. However, in the late 1980s and 1990s, during the presidency of Saddam Hussein, this work was expanded and accelerated to evict Shia Muslims from the marshes. Before 2003, the marshes were drained to 10% of their original size. After the fall of Hussein's regime in 2003, the marshes have partially recovered but drought along with upstream dam construction and operation in Turkey, Syria and Iran have hindered the process. Since 2016 the mesopotamian marshes are listed as an UNESCO Heritage Site.
The Khabur or Little Khabur is river that rises in Turkey and flows through Iraq to join the Tigris at the tripoint of Turkey, Iraq and Syria.
Boğazkere is a grape variety and a Turkish wine originated from Diyarbakır Province near the Tigris river in the southeastern region of Turkey. It is a dark red rich grape and the wine is well structured with dried fruit and fig flavors. It also gives its name to a wine produced from the grape by the certificated Boğazkere vineyards in Diyarbakır.
The Hezil Suyu is a river in south-eastern Turkey in the Eastern Anatolia Region which flows entirely in the Şırnak Province and is part of the natural border between Turkey and the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Just before it forms the border, it is dammed by the Silopi Dam. Just west of the city of Zakho in Iraq, it joins the Little Khabur river, which then forms the border.
The border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Turkey is about 822 kilometres (511 mi) long. It runs across Upper Mesopotamia for some 400 km, crossing the Euphrates reaching as far as the Tigris, following the Southern Turkish stretch of the Baghdad Railway roughly along the 37th parallel between the 37th and 42nd eastern meridians. In the west, it surrounds the Turkish Hatay Province, following the course of the Orontes River and reaching the Mediterranean coast at the foot of Jebel Aqra.
The Cizre Bridge is a 220 m (720 ft) long deck-arch bridge, carrying the D.400 across the Tigris river in Cizre, Turkey.
