Wall-Building: Turkey to Fence Itself Off Syria in 2017
13:48 03.11.2016(updated 13:49 03.11.2016)
Turkey hopes to complete the 911-kilometer-long concrete wall on the border with Syria next year.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Ankara is expected to complete the construction of a 911-kilometer-long (566-mile-long) concrete wall on the Turkish-Syrian border in the first half of 2017, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said.
"One of the other measures we took is to ensure emergency physical border security – in other words, build walls along the border as long as the geographical situation allows. We have built 268 kilometers of the wall as of now… Within the first half of 2017, we wish to finalize all of the 911 kilometers of the Syrian border with physical border security," Isik said Wednesday, as quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News newspaper.
He added that the rest of the wall had already been or would be constructed in the near future, while 85 kilometers of the border were river passages, where other precautions had already been taken.
Turkey has been strengthening its border with the war-torn Syria for months. In order to ensure safety in the region, Ankara had allocated some 250 million Turkish liras ($80 million) to six border provinces.
© Sputnik
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