Paying for water in Turkey: an analysis of Turkish water legislation in light of the precedent criteria of the Turkish Constitutional Court.

Abstract

Water, which is a basic need for humans and the natural world, is a limited resource. It is a cyclical element and not a freely traded commodity. The right to access to water is acknowledged as a basic right because of the importance of water for human life, and for this reason, water is a topic in many human rights texts. The restricted availability of this global resource, which must be sustainable to maintain life, has increased its importance for countries and made its fair and just management necessary. Putting the proper methods into practice is a lot harder than it appears, however, because theories and practices did not sit well together from different perspectives and different ones were developed worldwide. These approaches vary according to countries' access to water, amount of water usage, level of development, and economic situation. Because of these variables, a number of international studies have been carried out to eliminate the strain on water resources. The focus of these studies is on the definition of water resources and the rights and principles of usage and ownership of water. This study views water as a commercial commodity, and its subject is the pricing strategies for water and the underlying legal basis of the acknowledgement of water resources in Turkey as a public asset.