Turkey closes all gates along Syria border / Turkey Syria Conflict News
In light of worsening security conditions in Syria, Turkey decided to close all gates at Syria – Turkey border from today on, an official from the Turkish Customs and Trade Ministry announced.
Ankara, Turkey / NationalTurk – Closure of the border gates along Turkey-Syria border will halt the passage of vehicles between Turkey and Syria. Refugees from Syria, who have been fleeing into Turkey in their thousands to escape the worsening Syria conflict, cross the border through smuggling routes.
Tensions along the Syrian border were ignited by the downing last month of a Turkish military reconnaissance jet by Syrian air defences.
Syria Turkey Border gets closed – No more Syrian refugees ?
Ankara, which previously had close ties with Assad’s Damascus administration, significantly increased its military presence in a military show-off, locating anti-aircraft missiles to the Turkish border and scrambling planes when Syrian aircraft came close to Turkish territory.
Syrian rebels of the so-called Free Syrian Army seized control of several border gates on the Syrian side of the Turkish frontier over the last week in their 16-month-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Wednesday’s move will close the only 3 remaining border gates that were still open, at Cilvegozu, Oncupinar and Karkamis, the unnamed Turkish official stated.
The official mentioned Turkish Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazici would make an official declaration on the decision at 0800 GMT.
Crossing the border had become increasingly hazardous for Turkish truck drivers involved in trade between Syria and Turkey. They faced the constant risk of being targeted by combatants or caught in the crossfire between the two fighting sides. Many casualities so far…
Erdogan : Turkey responds firmly and bla bla bla..
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stated earlier this week the uprising against Bashar al Assad was ‘ closer than ever to victory’ and warned Turkey will respond firmly to any hostility from Syria.
Turkey, the official sponsor of Free Syrian Army has called for Syria president Assad, whom Tayyipp called a ‘tyrant’ to leave his post after he failed to heed calls for reform and Turkey has harbored Syrian rebels and tens of thousands of refugees along its border with Syria.
Syria accuses Turkey to support terrorism within its borders. Erdogan sits on the downed Turkish jet crisis.
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