Turkey will build a wall along its border with Greece to curb illegal immigration, according to the Turkish governor of the border province of Edirne, who confirmed that Ankara will begin installing the first physical barriers along its western border following the border walls erected by Ankara also on the border with Syria and Iran.
‘This year we will implement physical security measures for the first time on our western border. Walls and fences will be built along the border. Until now, there have only been border patrol roads,’ announced the governor of Edirne, Yunus Sezer, during a press conference that was echoed by several Turkish media.
‘The patrol roads have been completed, and as we did on the eastern border, we have put out to tender the construction of physical fences and walls. Finally, we will have security measures along our western border,’ Sezer added. The governor explained that initially a wall will be built along the border with Greece, although there are plans to extend it along the entire western border in Turkish Thrace.
In the first phase, 8.5 km of the border wall will be built this year, and will be completed in successive years. ‘Our province is no longer a favourite destination for migrants. We have seen a decrease of 93% in migratory activity compared to last year. At the same time, we have increased operations against the trafficking of migrants: this year alone we have captured 110 traffickers in 56 operations carried out,’ said the governor.
Turkey shares some 200 kilometres of common border with Greece, the dividing line of which is established along the river Evros (Meriç, in Turkish). In order to curb immigration, Greece built a fence in 2012 3 metres high and 11 km long, which it later extended to triple its length, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has already announced that he plans to extend it to over 100 km by the year 2026. Bulgaria has also built a border fence that covers almost the entire 259 km of its shared border with Turkey.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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