Turkey closes Syria border gate after Reyhanlı bombings

ANKARA

The Customs and Trade Ministry closed the Yayladağı Customs gate in the southern Hatay province for a month. DHA photo

Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazıcı announced May 21 in a written statement that Hatay’s Yayladağı Customs gate has been closed for a month.

“We’re closely observing and controlling the border gates between Syria and Turkey. We’ve closed Yayladağı border gate after the sad event in Reyhanlı [the bombings May 11 that caused death of more than 50 people] to prevent suspects’ flee. We’ve emphasized the situation since then and decided that security risks are quite high. It’s the only gate where people from Syria enter and get out of Turkey,” Yazıcı said.

“You will either do body searching to every person who passes the border without missing even one of them or you’ll develop other methods,” Yazıcı said to explain the reason behind closure of the gate.

Yazıcı also underlined that the technical infrastructure of the gate is not sufficient for preventing security risks. “The gate doesn’t have a strong infrastructure which could prevent potential security risks. Beside not doing a considerable contribution to our economy it creates a suitable atmosphere for people and events which will bring our country open to Syria’s internal war and security weaknesses.”