**4. Conclusions**

Risk management during the operation phase of dam structures differs from the risk management of other engineering structures. Therefore, instead of independent risk assessments of structures, it is appropriate to evaluate the risk of the cascade structure as a whole. The safety of cascade dams must be considered with a new concept from that of single dams. Collapse of a cascaded dam can lead to flooding or collapse of downstream dams. The author assumes that the probability of dam failure within a cascade structure is greater than that of a single dam. Concrete dams cannot fail when they are overtopped by flood waves. Because they operate as a spillway during flooding. There are so many river power plants constructed as concrete structures, which had a functional operation, without damages or minor damages after the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. Similar cases have been observed in Kahramanmaraş earthquakes with Ms. of 7.6 and 7.8 occurred on February 06, 2023. An embankment dam can fail to release reservoir water when it is overtopped by a flood wave. Therefore, embankment dams in cascade systems are more dangerous structures when compared with concrete dams for unexpected cases. Within the scope of this study, a risk identification has been made for the cascade structure and a qualitative assessment basis that reveals the most critical structure(s) in the system has been proposed. For the study, Özluce and Kigi dams are the critical structures when considering the Perisuyu-Munzur cascade system while Alparslan-1, Alparslan-2, and Y. Kaleköy dams are ones for Murat River cascade system of Upper Euphrates basin. The risk concept for the cascade system of dams, which was proposed in this study should be developed in the future. The author states that the proposal is just a beginning stage to start the discussion on risk management for dams of cascade systems in dam engineering.
