<Your Name>
<Your Address>

<date>

<Insert Address of reader here>

Dear <whomever,>

There is a water crisis that could bring war to the Middle East. Currently, most of the water that is supplied to Syria and Iraq comes from Turkey. This places a great burden on Turkey not to consume the quantity and quality of water that flows into Iraq and Syria.

Turkey is implementing a project known as the South Eastern Anatolia Development Project (GAP). GAP is the biggest and most intensive project ever created in Turkey (Topkaya, 1998).  GAP includes the construction of 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric power plants along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Topkaya, 1998).  

This project will deplete the water flow by 40% in Syria and up to 80% in Iraq (Swain, 1998).  Therefore, Iraq and Syria will not have enough water flow for hydroelectric power. This will also diminish water for irrigation to grow food and quality drinking water. 

This project is too extensive for the amount of water in the area. Some of the dams that have not been built yet along the Syria and Turkey border should not be built in order to leave enough water for Syria and Iraq.  This project will affect over 120 million people who live along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and could be the start of a water war (Lowi, 1995). This is a serious situation for the countries of Iraq and Syria, I would like to hear your comments, please write back.

Sincerely,
<Sign Name Here>
<Type Name Here>

Lowi, 1995. Rivers of Conflict, Rivers of Peace. Journal of International Affairs, Summer1995 
	49n1 p123-144

Swain, 1998. A New Challenge: Water Scarcity in the Arab World. Arab Atudies Quarterly, 
	Winter 1998 v20 n1 p1(11).

Topkaya, 1998. Water Resources in the Middle East: www.akdeniz.edu.tr/muhfak/publications