THE STORY OF TWO RIVERS

Euphrates comes to mind when it comes to Tigris or Tigris comes to mind when it comes to Euphrates...

How to tell the story of two running waters?

Two and a half percent of the world's water is freshwater, and only one percent of this is suitable for use. Nearly two billion people do not have access to healthy water. The scarcity of water on earth makes it precious. The world's rulers predict that in the 2050s it will be harder than ever to access water, which will lead to a high likelihood of water-related conflicts in some parts of the world. Nine of the regions with a high likelihood of war are in the Middle East... The reasons I have briefly mentioned above led me to make the story of these two rivers. These frames tell not only about yesterday and today, but also about tomorrow.

The Euphrates travels 1,263 kilometers in these lands, compared to the Tigris' 523-kilometer journey across Turkey. While one branch starts its journey from Diyadin district of Ağrı under the name Murat, the other main branch starts its journey from Güngörmez village of Erzurum under the name Karasu. Karasu's route is shorter. For 460 kilometers, it passes through Aşkale, Tercan, Kemah, İliç, Kemaliye and reaches Keban. The longer Murat, on the other hand, travels 733 kilometers, passing through Taşlıçay, Ağrı, Tutak, the endless Muş Plain, Bingöl, Genç and then reaches Elazığ and Keban.

The Sumerians first witnessed this reunion and named it 'Buranuna'. The Akkadians called it 'Purattu', meaning 'easily crossed'. However, the river has taken thousands of lives for centuries. The Greeks, who witnessed this, gave it the name of Euphrates, one of the gods. And the whole world began to call this sacred river by the name of Euphrates, who accidentally killed his son and threw himself into this river.

Then the book religions started to bless the Euphrates. In Genesis, Moses' Yahweh writes that "...after he created Adam, he created a garden 'in Aden toward the east' and placed Adam there. A river came out of it, which later split into four branches. Two of these four branches are the Tigris and the Euphrates..." Jesus Christ of the Christians, in the Revelation chapter of the Bible, said, "Untie the four angels who were bound by the great river Euphrates. The sixth angel emptied his cup into the great river Euphrates." The Prophet Muhammad of Islam said in one of his hadiths, "The Apocalypse will not come until the Euphrates River opens over a golden mountain. People will fight over it. Ninety-nine out of a hundred people are killed. Each one of them says: 'I will probably win the war'."

Let's come to the story of the Tigris... Some say the source of the Tigris is 'Lake Hazar', some say 'Zixir Village', some say 'Birkileyn Cave'. Setting off from these places, the Tigris first visits the Maden district; one branch passes through the Dicle district, which shares its name, while the other descends from Lice to Diyarbakır. Diyarbakır is the only province that Tigris and Euphrates visit together. But for this rapprochement to end in a reunion, they will have to travel another 1641 kilometers. With the Bismil district, the Tigris now crosses into Batman, where it blesses the thousand-year-old Hasankeyf. It makes its way to Dargeçit, not knowing that human beings are building Ilısu to stop it, and then moves on to Cizre to leave Turkey. It forms the border between the people of the two regions who speak the same language, and thus begins the river's journey from one country to another. Its journey here is quite short and from there it moves to another inland country and becomes Arabized, merging with the Euphrates and becoming the Shatt al Arab.

As it has many sources, the Tigris also has many names. The Sumerians called it 'Idigna' or 'Idigina' meaning 'flowing water', the Elamites called it 'Ti-gi-ra', the Persians called it 'Tigra', and the Greeks called it 'Tigris'. Its name in Sumerian was translated into Akkadian as 'Idiklat'. In Hebrew it was called 'Hiddekel', in Syriac 'Diklat', in Kurdish 'Dijle', and in Arabic, Turkish and Persian 'Tigris'.

Shorter in length than the Euphrates, the Tigris has more water, but it seems to want to flow quickly away from these lands. During the Mongol invasions, books were thrown into the river and the Tigris flowed with ink for days. Then Yavuz Sultan Selim embarked on the Eastern campaign and the blood of those with red heads mixed with it, and the water that flowed blue hundreds of years ago started to flow red this time. The Yazidis were not spared their share, Mir Bedirxan's justice dyed the Tigris red again. Then the Armenians, the owners of this land for thousands of years... Then the Assyrians who were the first to believe in Jesus, then the Chaldeans... It must be because of witnessing all this that the Tigris does not want to spare its share of water and flows swiftly.

Despite all that has happened, for centuries people have continued to hang out by these two waters. They built cities and started history. They invented writing and wrote history. They created legends and gods and shaped history. They built soaring Ziggurats, they wanted to reach something holier than water. They did it all, but they did it all on the banks of these two waters.

Tigris and Euphrates flowed for centuries. Then... Then dams were built. Zeugma drowned... Samsat drowned... Nevala Choli drowned... Urima drowned... Rumkale drowned... Halfeti drowned... Hasankeyf drowned...

THE STORY OF TWO RİVERS_Husamettin Bahce2693.JPG

The waste of the Maden Copper Plant is discharged into the
Maden Stream, which is a tributary of the Tigris. Due to this pollution, fish inhabiting this river display alarmingly higher levels of copper and zinc than those in other environments. Chemicals carried by the river also accumulate in the soil in the surrounding landscape, resulting in a general pollution of the area. Maden, Elazığ.

Mehmet Torun has built a basin full of scrap iron right where the waste from the copper plant enters the Maden Stream. The refuse thus adheres to the iron in the basin, with unwanted materials separated once more while copper is extracted before the rest flows into the stream. Maden, Elazığ.

Leeches in the swamps at the foothills of Mount Ağrı are being collected by children and sold to workplaces on the way for 1 lira each. Leeches have been used for treatment ever since Ancient Egypt. The village of Bardaklı, Doğubeyazıt, Ağrı.

One of the main tributaries of the Euphrates, Murat originates from the district of Diyadin,Ağrı

Said to have been extracted without interruption since the Urartu period up to present, Kemah salt is obtained by the evaporation and crystallization of salt water along Munzur and Karadağ. Kömür Village, Kemah, Erzincan.

Mazlum Karakaş, pasturing his animals by Kahta Creek. Kahta, Adıyaman.

Alevis in the village of Ziyaret sacrificing animals at the Shrine of Kazım Dede by the headwaters of Munzur. Bearing similarities to Shamanism, the Alevi faith calls for the animal’s consent to be sought prior to being sacrificed. Ovacık, Tunceli.

Sheep farmers living in Van’s district of Gürbulak where winters are rough, rent pastures to graze their animals in the Şıkefta (Suçeken) Village in Hasankeyf where the climate is milder. Setting out on their way back home as the weather warms up, they bring their sheep across the Mirdês Bridge over the Tigris. Hasankeyf, Batman.

Erdal Öner, who takes his sheep up to the meadows of Erzurum in the summers, on his way back to his village transporting his sheep across the river on a ferry from Çemişgezek. Tunceli.

The transportation of goods and people between Diyarbakır and Hasankeyf, Cizre, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra once took place over the River Tigris via primitive flat-bottomed barges/rafts called ‘kelek’. Today these keleks are used to ship cargo to the other side of the river.
Şıkefta Village, Hasankeyf, Batman.

According to the legend, one day Euphrates kills his son sleeping by the side of his wife taking him for a foreign man. Realizing his mistake, he commits suicide drowning himself in the River of Euphrates. In the mosaic, Euphrates is depicted reclining comfortably, and the river flows from a pitcher underneath his arm. Greenery and trees sprout wherever the water reaches below his feet. Gaziantep.

The rivers of Murat and Karasu converge at the boundaries of the Elazığ province, forming the Euphrates. Around the time construction was started at the Keban Dam in 1965, the dams of Tabka in Syria and Haditha in Iraq also started being built. The Euphrates transcending the boundaries of three countries became a means of political pressure. Keban, Elazığ.

With the completion of the dams of Bağıştaş 1 and 2 within the bounds of İliç many places were submerged under water. Erzincan.

Mikail Çini has been running Hayat Restaurant, the oldest in the district of Tercan, for the past fifty years. Erzurum.

Agricultural fields are being irrigated blindly, with the use of ground water and dams built over the Tigris basin. This uncontrolled irrigation results in the pollution of water sources during the irrigation cycle, excessive erosion, soil salinization, an excessive elevation of the water table in certain places, which all render land non-arable. Bismil, Diyarbakır.

One of the main tributaries of the Euphrates, Murat originates from the district of Diyadin. Haymaker Halit and friends
going to mow the weeds by the banks of the river. Diyadin, Ağrı.

A new bridge being constructed on the Euphrates marking the boundary between Adıyaman
and Şanlıurfa.

During the excavation of the Kuriki Mound, located at the confluence of the Batman Stream and River Tigris within the bounds of the Oymataş Village, traces and finds were uncovered belonging to the first settlements
in the Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age transition period, followed by those from the Iron Age, and then the Parthian and finally the Roman Empire. Batman.

Archaeological excavations bringing us to reconsider what we know about the history of humankind, reshape our settled/sedentary understanding of history, and question the history of religions, continue unbeknownst to many in Göbeklitepe since 1995. Dating back to 10,000 B.C., Göbeklitepe is known as the largest and most ancient site of worship in history. Örencik Village, Şanlıurfa.

The portion of the Tigris from its origin to the boundaries of the Bismil district was relegated in status from ‘river’ to ‘stream’ due to a decline in water flow caused by dams built upon it. With this alteration, a green light has been given to construction projects until up to fifty metres to the river’s shoreline.

An elderly uncle going to fish in the river. Hevsel Gardens, Diyarbakır.

Located in the Middle Fırat region and dating back to 2000 B.C., Birecik means ‘small castle’. Şanlıurfa.

The Tailors’ Market (Terziciler Çarşısı), Şanlıurfa.

Passing through the district of Cizre, the Tigris river marks the border between Turkey and Syria along a length of about forty kilometres. The Cizre Dam, planned to be constructed in the district after the completion of the Ilısu Dam project, shall be the second mega hydroelectric power plant to be built on the River Tigris. Cizre, Şırnak.