Reuters: Turkey’s border wall with Syria to be completed within five months

A Turkish official says Turkey will complete construction of a concrete wall to stop illegal crossings along the country’s 900-kilometer border with Syria by the end of February 2017.

Reuters reported on Wednesday in a report, citing the Turkish official who works at a government institution active in the border wall construction project and who requested anonymity, announcing this news.

Ankara has long been under pressure from its allies in the NATO alliance to prevent ISIS fighters from joining the group in Syria.

Turkey is also concerned about the presence of Syrian Kurdish forces, including militias known as the People’s Protection Units in northern Syria.

Construction of the border wall to prevent smuggling and illegal migration began in early 2014. However, nearly three million Syrian refugees have entered the country according to Turkey’s “open door” policy.

Source: Voice of America