Turkey closes Syria border after Hatay bombings

Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazici announced Tuesday in a written statement that Hatay’s Yayladagi Customs gate has been closed for a month.

“We’re closely observing and controlling the border gates between Syria and Turkey. We’ve closed Yaylada?? border gate after the sad event in Reyhanli [the bombings May 11 that caused death of more than 50 people] to prevent suspects’ flee. We’ve emphasized the situation since then and decided that security risks are quite high. It’s the only gate where people from Syria enter and get out of Turkey,” Yazici said.

“You will either do body searching to every person who passes the border without missing even one of them or you’ll develop other methods,” Yaz?c? said to explain the reason behind closure of the gate.

Yaz?c? also underlined that the technical infrastructure of the gate is not sufficient for preventing security risks. “The gate doesn’t have a strong infrastructure which could prevent potential security risks. Beside not doing a considerable contribution to our economy it creates a suitable atmosphere for people and events which will bring our country open to Syria’s internal war and security weaknesses.”


/HurriyetDailynews.Com/