Turkey to build 2.5-kilometer-long wall on Syria border

ANKARA

Syrian refugees carry their belongings at Cilvegozu border gate to go back to Syria after car bombings at Reyhanli in Hatay, on May 14. Turkey is set to build a 2.5-kilometer-long wall to prevent illegal crossings. AFP photo

Turkey is to build a 2.5-kilometer-long wall along the Cilvegözü border gate with Syria to prevent illegal crossings, Trade and Customs Minister Hayati Yazıcı announced May 23. The Cilvegözü-Bab al-Hawa gate lies less than 10 kilometers from Reyhanlı town center, where a twin-bomb attack killed 51 and wounded more than 100 on May 11. 

A protocol with the Turkish Armed Forces has already been signed for the construction of the wall, Yazıcı added. 

“According to the protocol, we have defined a project that aims to increase the security of the military zone by building a part barbed wire, part concrete wall with [security camera] system,” he said, adding that the x-ray control devices uses would be extended. “These devices scan cars while they cross the border. We sent them to Cilvegözü and we are working to increase their number.”

Earlier, daily Hürriyet reported that the prime suspect of the Reyhanlı bombing identified as N.E. had crossed the Turkish-Syrian border 400 times in a single year. 

The Cilvegözü border had also been the target of a car bomb attack on February 11. Turkish authorities pointed the finger at the Syrian intelligence agency Al Mukhabarat after both bombings.