3-year demining project ends in Türkiye’s eastern borders

ANKARA

A joint endeavour by the Defense Ministry, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the European Union has concluded a three-year-long mine clearance project along Türkiye’s eastern border.

"Our EU Delegation to Türkiye-funded project cleared 4.2 million square meters of land from mines and provided jobs for more than 300 people along the eastern border,” UNDP Türkiye said on social media platform X earlier this week.

In a separate written statement, UNDP Türkiye noted the initiative rendered a 4.2 million square meters area along the borders with Armenia and Iran safe for the civilian population and border management personnel.

The $23.8 million project involved the clearance of 94 minefields and 50,000 land mines along the borders, the statement read.

The announcement further noted the teams also completed the mapping for all active landmines in the country.

With financial support amounting to $21.3 million from the EU and $2.5 million from Türkiye, this achievement, coupled with the previous two phases since 2016, resulted in the removal of 95,000 mines and the clearance of 8.9 million square meters from mines.

"Mine clearance is often misunderstood, but the reality is that landmines make borders, especially for personnel tasked with border protection, not safer but more precarious. By clearing landmines, we support Türkiye in applying a humanitarian approach to border management and ensure the safety of shepherds and other civilians living in the region, enabling border patrols to carry out their duties securely,” UNDP Türkiye’s Resident Representative Louisa Vinton said.

Türkiye, which signed the 1999 Ottawa Treaty prohibiting the use, production, storage and transfer of anti-personnel landmines in 2004, is one of the 30 countries working with UNDP to support mine clearance activities and national mine action institutions.