The Two Rivers: Water, Development and Politics in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin, 1920-1975 Dale Stahl Submitted in partial FulFillment oF the requirements For the degree oF Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School oF Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Dale Stahl All rights reserved ABSTRACT The Two Rivers: Water, Development and Politics in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin, 1920-1975 Dale Stahl At the end oF the First World War, new states were created in the Former domains oF the Ottoman Empire. In the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Britain and France obtained through conquest and international writ new “mandate” territories in Iraq and Syria, while in 1923 a new Turkish republic was Founded on the Anatolian peninsula. During the next two decades, governments in these states planned a series of water control projects on the two rivers as part oF broad economic development eFForts. Many oF these projects were eventually constructed after the Second World War, shaping the environment oF the river basin with dams, Flood control and irrigation works, and hydroelectric power stations. By comparing these states' eFForts to exploit natural resources and manage the environment oF the basin, this study considers the environmental Function in the shiFt From empire to independent nation-state and in the diverse processes oF modern state Formation. Through water resource exploitation, Iraq, Syria and Turkey Founded modern bureaucracies, centralized control over natural resources, and justiFied new techniques to manage populations. However, the intentions oF Baghdad, Ankara and Damascus, as well as the results obtained, diFFered in signiFicant ways, providing insight not only into the nature oF these states, but also the political dimensions oF managing a critical natural resource. This dissertation is based on analysis oF archival records in Arabic, English, French and Turkish, collected From institutions in England, France, the United States, India and Turkey. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ii Acknowledgments iii Introduction 1 Chapter One: Founded on Disaster 25 Chapter Two: The Rise of the Technocratic State 74 Chapter Three: Oil, Water, and a Plan For Development 108 Chapter Four: Building a Dam, Building a State 141 Chapter Five: Mesopotamia and the International Order 181 Conclusion 242 Bibliography 250 i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Map of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey 24 2. Aerial view oF the main Tigris breach north oF Baghdad, 1926 72 3. View oF Flooded Baghdad North Gate station and nearby markets, 1926 73 4. Aerial view oF the city oF Baqubah surrounded by Floodwaters, 1926 73 5. Road Map of Elazığ Province, 1964 179 6. Road Map of Elazığ Province, 2012 180 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a great pleasure to salute the many people who have played such important roles in bringing this dissertation to Fruition. First, I am very grateFul to Rashid Khalidi, teacher and advisor, For many years oF support. His incredible knowledge oF Middle Eastern history and counsel on items great and small have been invaluable. Several other Columbia University Faculty members have been critical to my development as a scholar and to this project’s genesis. Elizabeth Blackmar radically shiFted my concept oF what might be considered a historical source, challenged me to expand my analytical scope, and proFoundly impacted my pedagogy. As a result oF Richard Bulliet’s lectures, questions, and observations, I learned to look at history in new and original ways. Susan Pedersen’s critical eye and commitment to empiricism set a high standard For scholarship that will guide Further work on this project and my Future studies. This particular research was deeply inFluenced by Timothy Mitchell’s writings and his insightFul commentary. I oFFer thanks also to Adam McKeown, Gregory Mann, David Rosner, and Christine Philliou For their comments, suggestions, and intercessions. I owe a Further debt oF gratitude to the administrative staFF at the Department oF History For supporting me during my progress at Columbia. This research would not have been possible without the generous scholarships and Fellowships that allowed me to learn languages, travel to Faraway archives, and take time to think and write. I would like to thank the Department oF History, the Middle East Institute, and the Graduate School oF Arts and Sciences at Columbia University For their support throughout my graduate school years. Assistance From The American Academic iii Research Institute in Iraq (TAARII), the National Security Education Program, and the Howard and Natalie Shawn Summer Research Fellowship supported my Fieldwork. During my period oF writing, I beneFited From grants From the Institute oF Turkish Studies and the Whiting Foundation. Colleagues and Friends within the Columbia community and without helped me immeasurably on this journey. I oFFer special thanks to Aimee Genell, who I subjected at various points to early draFts oF the Following chapters. I am immensely grateFul For her constructive and sensitive critiques (as well as her fine Turkish soup recipes) and her dedication to history as an intellectual challenge and moral pursuit. It has been my good Fortune to stumble across good Columbians at several junctures in my Fieldwork. I am thankFul For their contributions to my scholarship and my well being when Far From home. My thanks to Merve Tezcanli, Jared Manasek, Abhishek Kaicker, Toby Harper, Stacey Van Vleet, Carey Kasten, and Shehab Ismail. I have beneFited greatly From conversations with several friends and colleagues including Oscar Aguirre Mandujano, Nathan Stroupe, Divya Cherian, Seth Anziska, Rosie Bsheer, Harun Buljina, Michael Christopher Low, Claire Edington, Dan Navon, Zoe GriFFith, Elizabeth Nolte, Dan Auger, Ryan Martin, Arunabh Ghosh, Mari Webel and Adrien Zakar. Research For this project took me to archives and libraries in Five countries. My thanks to the archivists and library staFF oF the institutions mentioned in the bibliography. A special thanks to Muaz Ayhan Işık at the TBMM Kütüphanesi, Ahmet Dölek at the Beyazıt Devlet Kütüphanesi, and Idir Ouahes at the Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes For going out oF their way to help me Find materials. iv A research project oF this magnitude would not have been possible without the patience, thoughtfulness and encouragement oF Friends and Family. My thanks to Adam Teicholz; Peter and Carrie Atkin; Ellen, Joanna, Gary and Karen Bradley; Lyle Morton; Joyce Chen; Hannah Vanderlan; Molly Cherington; Mark Ganek; Sara Neff; and Brian Bergeron for listening, advising, motivating and being such good company. Thank you also to Louise BradFord For providing a cheerFul home away From home and a good dose oF encouragement at challenging moments. I am obliged to my brother Todd and sister- in-law JenniFer For much the same. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Molly Shea for being both an intellectual companion and kindred spirit during these past seven years. My parents, James and Dawn, made courageous and inspiring decisions early in my intellectual liFe, including endorsement oF a bachelor’s degree in history and the incredible Financial and emotional support necessary to make possible my First visit to the Middle East in 1999. They have demonstrated immense Faith and a powerFul conFidence in me, without which I could not have imagined pursuing a higher degree or executing this research. The Final note oF appreciation belongs to my partner in crime, my collaborator and Fellow schemer, Ty BradFord, whose presence in my liFe makes this work and much else more meaningful and a hell of a lot of fun. v INTRODUCTION The human handling and exploitation oF the water oF the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers has had a proFound impact on the Formation oF political communities in the rivers' basin For millennia. This is no less the case with the three new states—Turkey, Iraq and Syria—that emerged in the river basin aFter the First World War. This assertion Frames the Forthcoming chapters, which describe the myriad ways in which the interaction between government and environment produced the modern state, or more accurately, the modern eFFects oF stateness. The Following chapters describe the range of means—legal, institutional, economic, social, cultural, and diplomatic—that were brought to bear in shaping the relationship oF state and society to the environment oF the basin. These eFForts helped to deFine the action oF modern state power and the creation oF its objects, society and environment. This research demonstrates how the Framing and in some measure achieving oF centralized control over water allowed for the deFinition and penetration oF state power into new spheres of social and political life. Several chapters discuss how institutions for managing the environment were built (and not built) and how these institutions structured the Functions oF the state and the methods whereby political power might be exerted. The dissertation also discusses how the interaction oF government and environment worked at multiple levels, examining in close detail how popular support for new and invasive inFrastructure relied on certain myths and ideas about space and place. Finally, the dissertation examines how governments in Ankara, Damascus and Baghdad negotiated geopolitics and international relations to secure financing and 1 expertise in their various bids to turn recalcitrant, powerful rivers into valuable state- building resources. This study begins with the period just after World War I and traces a history of flood and flood control, of waterpower and water as power, through 1975, a year that marks the completion oF the First two massive dams on the Euphrates River in Turkey and Syria. Though parts oF this dissertation will range outside those dates, ending the study with the completion oF the dams is representative oF the ultimate claim oF this research. The construction oF these dam projects represents the achievement oF certain capabilities and arrangements oF bureaucratic state power and the (attempted in some cases) production oF political legitimacy through water management.