More border gates on the way for southeast

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The Ministry of the Interior declared Uludere town in the southeastern province of Şırnak would become a border gate to Iraq, Minister of Customs and Trade Hayati Yazıcı said.

Thirty-five Turkish citizens recently lost their lives in the area following a combat aircraft bombardment by the military. The deceased citizens were allegedly smugglers, transporting cheap fuel from Iraq into Turkey, and were victims of false intelligence.

The authorities are working on legalizing trade at Turkey’s hard-to-control southeastern borders by opening additional border gates, Yazıcı said.

Work was already in progress across the rugged terrain of Şemdinli (Derecik) and Çukurca (Üzümlü), both towns located on the Turkish-Iraqi border. “After recent events [the killing of 35 citizens] we have put Gülyazı (close to Uludere) on our agenda,” he said.

However, to finalize the opening of border gates, the bordering country would have to give its consent, the minister said.