VAN, TURKEY: Shepherd Ibrahim Koc fondly remembers his youth as he tends to his herd of cattle in a barren land that was earlier lush with vegetation near Turkey’s largest lake.
The locations where Lake Van has receded due to years of drought and global warming are occasionally marked by a plant.
The 65-year-old lamented that the animals were thirsty. Koc stated, echoing the sentiments of an increasing number of Turks who have seen their mountains lose their ice caps and their water reservoirs dry up, “There is no water,”
A climate map of Turkey, an agricultural superpower from Iran in the east to Bulgaria in the west, reveals that much of the country is experiencing a long-term drought. Receding shorelines expose lakebeds that contaminate the air with salty dust. The issues could only become worse, according to scientists.
Professor Faruk Alaeddinoglu of Van Yuzuncu Yil University said, “I think these are our best days.” In the upcoming years, the lake will continue to get smaller.
About 3,700 square kilometers (1,400 square miles) in size, Lake Van has a maximum depth of 450 meters (1,475 ft). Alaeddinoglu measured it last autumn and found that it has lost about 1.5% of its surface area over the past few years. He said, “That is a terrible amount of water for a 3,700 square kilometer area.”
