Turkey has begun construction of a wall along the border with
Iran in a bid to crack down on smuggling and terrorism, following the
building of a similar barrier already standing on the border with Syria.
Suleyman
Elban, the governor of Agri province, visited the wall on Tuesday
together with a local police chief and gendarmerie commander before
meeting with the area’s border guards, the Dogan news agency reported.
The
2-meter-wide, 3-meter-high barrier is being built out of portable
blocks and is aimed at boosting Turkey’s security by keeping out
smugglers and stopping infiltration by Kurdish militants.
Turkey
claims that the PKK, the banned Kurdish movement involved in an ongoing
conflict with the government, has bases and camps on the Iranian side of
the border. Iran is also a known source of drug trafficking and other
contraband which passes through Turkey before making its way to Europe.
In
June, Ankara announced that it had finished building a 700km-long wall
running along most of its 828km border with Syria, complete with an "integrated security”
system comprising of sophisticated lighting, sensors and security
cameras. Responsibility for the Iranian border project has been placed
in the hands of the Public Housing Development Administration (TOKİ),
which is mainly responsible for housing construction works.
Unlike the proposed wall between Mexico and the United States,
which has caused an uproar against President Donald Trump, the
Turkish-Iranian wall has been met with little flak on the other side. In
May, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said that his
country welcomed any steps towards increasing border security.
"We
welcome all kinds of actions that will increase security and stability
at the border. We are in favor of deeper bilateral dialogue to increase
coordination in this regard,” the Milliyet newspaper quoted Qassemi as saying. "Border security is important for both Iran and Turkey, and the necessary efforts should be made by both countries."
Relations
between Turkey and Iran have soured since the onset of the Arab Spring
in 2011 and the Syrian civil war, where Tehran supports President Bashar
Assad while Ankara has called for him to go.
Turkey is also
concerned about Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq involved in the
fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), while Iran is
equally anxious about Turkish military activity there. But in more
recent months the two powers have found themselves on the same side in
the Gulf diplomatic crisis, denouncing the sanctions and blacklisting of
Qatar by Saudi Arabia and its allies.
