28 Mar 2024
Thursday 11 January 2018 - 14:31
Story Code : 289625

Turkey to finish Iranian border wall next spring



Sputnik - Turkey has finished building a wall along more than half of its 144 km border with Iran. The partition, meant to prevent illegal immigration, smuggling and militant infiltration, will be completed next spring, according to Turkish housing developer TOKI.




In addition tothe Iranian border wall, TOKI has also been busy building a wall onTurkey's southern border withSyria aswell, where Kurdish fighters and Sunni jihadists criss cross international lines regularly.
"We started this [Iran wall] inthe summer, butthe season is very short here. Currently, 80 km ofthis 144 km has been completed, and when seasonal weather conditions permit, God willing, we will have finished bynext spring," TOKI President Ergun Turan told Reuters.


Last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey will build walls alongits border withIraq and part ofits border withIran toreplicate its almost-completed border withSyria. Turkish officials hope that the wall betweenTurkey and Iran will prohibit smuggling and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant infiltration throughthe Iranian border. The PKK is an organization inTurkeyand Iraq that has been inarmed conflict withthe Turkish state since2015 inan attempt toachieve an independent Kurdish state.
Officials also claim that sincethe building ofthe wall alongthe Syrian border, Daesh and other militant groups have tried tocreate smuggling routes throughIran intoSyria.


In a recent interview, Turan announced that the wall alongTurkey's Syrian border has not yet been completed due toweather and security concerns.

"All but25 to30 km have been completed, including the road [alongside the wall] We can say it is at98 percent," Turan said.
TOKI is also leading efforts torebuild parts ofsoutheastern Turkey that were wrecked inclashes betweenthe Turkish government and Kurdish militants duringthe government's military operation againstPKK in2015.


Toki plans onbuilding 25,000 housing units inTurkey's most damaged areas. Ergun expects that the agency will build between60,000 and 65,000 units inall ofTurkey this year. The construction company has built 820,000 housing units since2003.

The agency is also planning tobuild "industry sites" likestadiums, hospitals and schools inthree Turkish provinces: Aksaray, Bolu and Diyarbakir.

https://theiranproject.com/vdcb59b5srhbw0p.4eur.html
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