Turkey has supplied 19 million cubic meters (mcm) of fresh water to Turkish Cyprus under a landmark water supply project, sources at the Forestry and Water Affairs Ministry told state-run Anadolu Agency on Aug. 16.
The officials said the water was sent from the Alaköprü Dam on the Anamur Creek in Mersin, southern Turkey, to the Geçitköy Dam, which was constructed close to the Turkish Cypriot city of Kyrenia.
The Turkey-Turkish Cyprus water project was officially launched in 2011 and aims to provide water for the Turkish side of the divided island for the next five decades.
The investment cost of the Alaköprü and Geçitkoy dams for the project are close to 80 million Turkish liras, roughly $36.6 million, and the project will supply around 75 mcm of water to Turkish Cyprus every year.
The water supply to the island started last October and has continued without interruption under a protocol between the two countries.
The officials also said the number of municipalities seeking to use the water and who have signed subscription agreements with the Turkish Cypriot Agriculture and Natural Resources Ministry has reached 23 out of the country’s 28 municipalities.
At the same time, the construction of drinking water distribution lines in the Girit, Famagusta and Karpaz peninsulas is 99 percent completed, while feasibility studies for the rest are continuing.
The eastern Mediterranean island was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after a 1974 military coup on the island was followed by Turkey’s military intervention.
Reunification talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides of the island resumed in May 2015 after stalling in October 2014 due to a dispute about gas exploration around the island.