Ankara mayor under fire in water crisis

ANKARA, Aug 9 (Reuters) The mayor of Turkey's capital Ankara is facing growing calls for his resignation and for government intervention after a fourth day without water in the city of four million people.

Ankara began water rationing nine days ago after levels in reservoirs feeding the city fell to just 4 per cent of capacity.

This means there is only water for two more months.

The municipality then had to turn off the taps completely after a major pipe burst earlier this week. It now says water will be flowing again to the whole city by tomorrow.

''In a normal country, a mayor who lacks so much foresight even though he has been in power for 13 years apologises to the people and resigns immediately,'' said Meral Tamer, a columnist in liberal Milliyet newspaper.

Newspapers asked Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who was a popular mayor of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, in the 1990s, to intervene in the crisis. Mayor Melih Gokcek belongs to Erdogan's centre-right, Islamist-rooted AK Party.

Gokcek has blamed the water shortage on global warming, but his critics say he failed to invest in new dams over the years despite repeated warnings from experts.

They say Gokcek preferred image-boosting investments such as expensive highways to spending on vital infrastructure and that this has left the city more vulnerable to climate shocks.

Gokcek has rejected the charges of negligence and has promised to bring water from a nearby river to Ankara by the end of this year.

Much of Turkey is suffering one of its driest years on record, but the capital, located in the sunbaked, dry interior, has been especially hard hit.

The future regime of water supply cuts has yet to be determined.

Gokcek made headlines last week when he asked residents to take longer vacations and suggested schools reopen late to help curb water consumption.

Some Ankara residents support Gokcek's suggestion.

''I am going to my mother's place for the weekend. You should also leave Ankara immediately,'' the head of Turkey's agricultural chambers, Semsi Bayraktar, told reporters.

REUTERS AE RAI2047