VZCZCXRO3669
PP RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHIT #0245/01 0821203
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231203Z MAR 07
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6795
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 6331
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 2302

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000245 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOC FOR 4212/ITA/MAC/CPD/CRUSNAK 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE AND OES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ENRG SENV PREL TU
SUBJECT: ISTANBUL TO HOST WORLD WATER FORUM 2009 
 
REF: ANKARA 639 
 
ISTANBUL 00000245  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Even as the country enjoyed sunshine 
instead of rain (reftel), Istanbul hosted a preparatory 
meeting for the World Water Forum 2009, an international, 
tri-annual meeting organized to highlight water needs and 
resources worldwide since 1997.  Istanbul was chosen as venue 
for the 2009 meeting during the convocation in Mexico last 
year.  Speakers representing the organization's permanent 
leadership tended to reflect most passionately the themes of 
dire water need around the world.  End summary. 
 
THE PLACE 
--------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Turkey's representative on the umbrella 
organization's, World Water Council (WWC), board of 
governors, Professor Veysel Eroglu, currently Director 
General of Turkey's State Hydraulic Works, said he 
successfully pushed for holding the 2009 Water Forum in 
Istanbul during the 2006 WWF gathering in Mexico.  As past 
director of Istanbul's Water and Sewerage Administration 
1994-2002 during then-Mayor Tayyip Erdogan's administration, 
1994-1998, the city had advanced from water distribution 
every 15th day in some locales to distribution and quality at 
"international standards," he claimed.  The Forum in 2009 
should mark a turning point for Istanbul, Eroglu said with 
additional accomplishments; there would be a "before and 
after" effect.  While not naming a completion date, ground 
was broken for a Bosphorus tunnel to link a 185-kilometer 
channel bringing water from the Menem River in Anatolia to 
European Istanbul.  Eroglu referred to this tunnel and 
Istanbul's two existing bridges over the Bosphorus as 
metaphors for Istanbul's role as the link between cultures 
and continents.  Turkey, he said, would work with WWC to hold 
regional meetings worldwide to advance and prepare for the 
2009 Forum in Istanbul, the first of which is to be held in 
Antalya, Turkey, March 22-24 with an appearance by the Prime 
Minister.  Other regional meetings were already planned for 
the Balkans, Central Asia, the U.S. and Russia. 
 
THE PASSION 
----------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) WWC President Loic Fauchon injected intensity into 
his description of the disaster WWC members see in water 
distribution worldwide.  Water supplies are challenged by 
pollution, population pressures and global warming and the 
precious resource is no longer always to be found where it 
was once routinely expected by planners.  Systematic 
approaches were critical to combat the consequences of abuse 
of water reserves.  WWC's objective is to "convince those in 
power that the priority...must be given to water and 
sanitation because water is the first guarantee for health 
and education."  With two billion people worldwide without 
running water, political acceptance of the group's goals was 
a duty.  Fauchon did not name a figure but said there was 
money to prevent the 25 million annual deaths he attributed 
to water-related disease and drought.  "Resource transfers" 
would be sufficient to respond adequately to the needs in 
each region of the world.  WWC would work through the media 
and other up-to-date methods of reaching a mass audience to 
create a powerful lobby to reach political, economic and 
social decision-makers at all levels to bring about effective 
decisions. 
 
THE PLAN 
-------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) With Grand National Assembly Speaker Bulent Arinc, 
Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas and other politicians joining the 
closing session of the preparatory meeting in the grand entry 
hallway of the sparkling Dolmabahce Palace, Turkey's hosts 
seemed to have other points uppermost in mind.  A film and 
speakers showcased Istanbul as home to multiple faiths 
(Jewish, Christian and Muslim), as well as to successive 
iterations of powerful civilizations.  The film described the 
special role of water in each of these civilizations, 
culminating in the Muslim culture and its use of water. 
Turkish speakers also highlighted Turkey's breathtaking 
beauty and Istanbul's spectacular monuments punctuated by the 
cool waters of the Bosphorus with its bridges visually and 
literally linking Europe and Asia. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Comment.  The gathering's closing ceremony at the 
palace seemed drawn in high definition for politicians 
seeking a wider stage.  WWC's message of ecology came across 
 
ISTANBUL 00000245  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
as a bit dull compared to the technicolor presentation 
covering the host city and country.  Turkey does not yet 
appear to have set up a secretariat to prepare for the 2009 
World Water Forum, but will likely draw support staff from 
large central government offices well practiced at planning 
and organizing multilateral meetings as well as from the 
Istanbul Mayor's office.  We will work with the Mayor's 
office as well as with Embassy Ankara to track the 
development and organization of the secretariat.  End Comment. 
JONES