The Turkish government is building a 63-kilometer concrete border wall in the eastern province of Van, which borders Iran. Construction of a three-kilometer section of the wall has been completed. The height of this wall is three meters and the width is two hundred and eighty meters. After preparing the concrete blocks weighing seven tons, they are being installed by heavy machines.
According to the Turkish government, 76 towers have been installed so far in the border areas of Van province and a deep trench has been dug. According to the Ankara government, the purpose of building the concrete wall is to tighten security against terrorism, smuggling of goods and illegal immigration. One of the purposes of building this wall is to fight terrorism.
According to Turkish media, more than a thousand Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) workers are active in camps on the Iranian border. The movement of the group will be monitored through this wall. Thousands of migrants enter Turkey illegally through Iran to reach Europe. The purpose of building this wall is to stop human trafficking from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
Environmentalists say the construction of the border wall will limit the movement of wildlife in the area. This will have a long-term devastating effect on the ecosystem. Turkish officials hope that with the completion of this wall, the Turkish-Iranian border will become more secure.
They fears that after the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, a large number of Afghan refugees will try to enter Turkey through Iran. According to the UNHCR, Turkey has the largest number of refugees in the world. There are currently about 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees in the country and about 320,000 asylum seekers from other nationalities.
