Ankara: Struggle for oil and carbon fuels in the past century will be replaced by water in the coming period as competition for power is intensifying, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

According to Anadolu Agency, Erdogan attended an opening ceremony for new facilities built by the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works. During the event, he highlighted that factors such as climate change, drought, population growth, urbanization, and industrialization are increasingly pressuring water resources.

Erdogan noted that 2.2 billion people worldwide lack access to healthy drinking water. He cited the World Water Development Report, which forecasts that by 2050, approximately six billion people may not have sufficient access to clean water.

In an era where competition for power is intensifying across all sectors, water remains the most strategic and valuable resource, serving as a key component of production and energy, Erdogan emphasized.

The president also pointed out that signs of this struggle are already visible in armed conflicts occurring around the region. He highlighted that only 2.5% of the world's total water supply consists of freshwater. Meanwhile, the global population has surged from three billion in 1960 to over eight billion today, yet rainfall amounts remain unchanged.

As the demand for clean water sources increases, water resources are rapidly depleting due to the impacts of rapid consumption and pollution, Erdogan added.