At the same time as desperate Afghans are trying to leave their homeland, Turkey is building a long, three-meter-high concrete wall on the border with Iran. The goal is to prevent Afghan refugees from entering the country.
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There are many paths to the hope of security for the thousands of people who are trying to flee Afghanistan after The Taliban have seized power in the country.
You have been able to read about daily since Kabul fell last Sunday the chaos at the airport in Kabul. But this is not the only way out. Many are trying to cross borders into neighboring countries such as Pakistan and Iran.
Of those who choose the latter, many continue across the country with the hope of moving on to Turkey.
1 of 4Photo: MURAD SEZER / Reuters
Whether that is the ultimate goal, or whether they want to go from there again to different European countries, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get into the country. The Turks are in the process of building a long, three-meter-high wall on the border with Iran.
“Our border is impossible to cross,” Turkish provincial governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez told Reuters.
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155 kilometer
So far, the wall, which was started in 2017, covers 155 kilometers of the 540 kilometer long border. But the work to extend it is in full swing. Even before the turn of the year, 64 new kilometers of concrete will be ready to prevent the refugees who want to enter Turkey, according to Reuters.
However, this does not mean that it is freely rented along large parts of the border. Barbed wire, ditches and of course guards from armed soldiers do their part to keep people away from the part where no wall has been built so far.
–Several soldiers have been sent after Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Taliban, and thousands of people live in fear for their lives.
– Our biggest wish is that this will not be a migrant route from Afghanistan, says Bilmez.
“Turkey has no obligation or responsibility to become Europe’s warehouse for refugees,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said recently.
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Not given that there will be a migrant wave
Turkish authorities say they have stopped around 35,000 Afghans who have crossed the border illegally so far this year. Many are returned.
The country also states that they have registered over 180,000 Afghan refugees in the country and that there are around 120,000 unregistered.
–The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 90 percent of the 2.6 million Afghans who have fled abroad live in Iran and Pakistan. In comparison, around 630,000 Afghans have applied for asylum in EU countries in the last ten years.
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Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, tells NTB that it is not a given that the Taliban’s takeover will lead to a new wave of refugees. He believes much depends on whether the Taliban will allow continued development work in countries, and that donor countries will continue to fund it.
According to the UNHCR, more than 550,000 Afghans have left their homes due to hostilities in the country so far this year. Most of these are still in Afghanistan.
Turkey also houses around 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
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