Turkey completes one-third of border wall in southern town

HATAY

AA photo

Around one-third of a wall to be built along the Turkish-Syrian border in the southern Turkish town of Reyhanlı has been completed, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

The first phase of the wall building, which was to be formed of moveable concrete blocks, was completed, with 11 kilometers of the 36.5-kilometer wall, was built in the Bükülmez, Kuşaklı and Beşaslan neighborhoods of Reyhanlı, a district in Turkey’s southern province of Hatay, as well as a border town neighboring Syria.
Hatay is popular with smuggling and illegal border crossings and the wall was reportedly planned as a pre-emptive measure against these activities.

The wall is being built as a part of security measures that have been beefed up near the Syrian border since late July. 

Abdullah Uysal, the wall’s construction supervisor, said 100 moveable concrete blocks were being poured each day, adding that 11.5 kilometers of the entire wall had already been completed.

“We’ve built wall in three areas along their border [with Syria] over the past four months. We’re done with the first phase. Seventy-five personnel are working here. Our work will continue along a 25-kilometer-line between Reyhanlı and Hassa [a district in Hatay],” Uysal said. 

Uysal said the width of each concrete block was two meters and the height was three meters, with each block weighing three tons.

Turkey has stepped up security measures near and on its Syrian border, amid a series of violent incidents targeting both security personnel and civilians over the past several months.

In late July, the Turkish army started building a rocket-proof wall 2.5-meter high and one-meter wide on the Syrian border in Yayladağı, a district in Hatay that runs along part of Syria’s border with Turkey. 

Elaborating on the wall, the army also revealed that ditches were to be dug behind the wall would have a length of 2.5 kilometers and a depth of 4 meters.

The plan of the wall included close circuit cameras with night view capabilities to be placed at watch towers along the Syrian border. 

Then-Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç unveiled the details of a new border security plan in mid-July.
“What is important in the face of Daesh [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] is to block the terrorists’ transit points with physical obstacles. A physical security system will be established at the border,” Arınç said during a cabinet meeting break late July 22.