Turkey set to complete wall on Iranian border

ANKARA: Turkey has completed more than half of a 144-km wall on its border with Iran and will finish it next spring, the firm building the barrier said, as Ankara secures its frontiers from smuggling, illegal immigration and militant infiltration.

State housing developer TOKI, better known for low-cost, high-rise apartment blocks in Turkey’s major cities, has also been building a wall on the border with northern Syria where Kurdish fighters and hardline militants hold territory.

“We started this (Iran wall) in the summer, but the season is very short here. Currently, 80 km of this 144 km has been completed, and when seasonal weather conditions permit, God willing, we will have finished by next spring,” TOKI President Ergun Turan said.

President Tayyip Erdogan said last year Turkey would build walls along its border with Iraq and part of the border with Iran similar to the nearly completed one on its longest border, with Syria.

The wall with Iran, which will stretch along the northern third of Turkey’s Iranian frontier, aims to prevent smuggling and infiltration by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, Turkish officials have said.

Since the construction of the wall along the Syrian border, militants from IS and other groups have also tried to use smuggling routes through Iran into Turkey, they said.

In an interview late on Tuesday, Turan said all but a small portion of the wall along the 911-km border with Syria had been finished, despite falling behind schedule because of the weather and security concerns.

“All but 25-30 km have been completed, including the road... We can say it is at 98 per cent,” Turan said, referring to the security roads TOKI is building alongside the walls.

The agency is also playing a leading role in government efforts to rebuild parts of southeastern Turkey, which has been damaged by the heavy fighting between the military and Kurdish militants since the collapse of a ceasefire in 2015.