Turkey ups border security as evacuations from Afghanistan continue

The Turkish Armed Forces have sent reinforcement units to the eastern border in a bid to increase security, state-run Anadolu agency reported on Saturday.

Mehmet Bilmez, governor for the Van province on Turkey’s Iranian border, told reporters in a visit to the border that security measures were at a maximum in the border region.

Four commando squadrons as well as 50 armoured vehicles, 35 teams and a total of 750 troops were sent to the eastern border, Bilmez said. Drones and thermal cameras are also used in border monitoring, “with the understanding that borders are (the country’s) honour”, he added.

Border Brigade Commander Captain İlker Ertuğrul, during the same visit, told reporters that there were six border squadrons, three commando squadrons and other soldier units involved with border security. Construction for two border outposts are underway, while 58 watchtowers and 45 communications towers have been completed and are at the testing phase, he added.

Efforts for six kilometres of a 64-km-long concrete border wall have been completed, and the wall will be complimented with ditches and razorwire where necessary, Ertuğrul said.

In a press event on the same day, Provinces Administration Director Hüseyin Kırbıyık told reporters that authorities stopped 280,374 irregular migrants at the border in 2021, Anadolu reported. In 2020, a total of 505,375 attempts were stopped.

According to Kırbıyık, 4,282 traffickers were caught by authorities in 2020, and 4,361 were caught in 2021 to date.

Hüseyin Tercanoğlu from the national police’s Special Operations Directorate told reporters that there was a higher level of efforts in Van as it has the longest border with Iran, and that efforts focused on sites where smugglers and traffickers have been caught before.

As border fortification efforts continue in preparation for a flow of asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Turkey evacuated 379 more Turkish citizens from Kabul on Saturday, Anadolu reported. On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had announced the evacuation of 552 citizens to date.

Evacuation efforts continue in Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, where Afghans gather in a last ditch attempt to catch a flight out of the country following the sudden Taliban takeover.