Fearing Afghan refugee influx, Turkey reinforces border

TATVAN – Fearing a caller exile crisis, Turkey is sending soldiers to reenforce its borderline with Iran successful bid to halt a imaginable influx of Afghans fleeing the Taliban insurgency.

Irregular arrivals are already up arsenic Afghans who fled weeks and months agone amusement up astatine Turkey's rugged borderline country aft a agelong trek crossed Iran. A radical of Afghans encountered by The Associated Press adjacent the borderline said they had deserted the Afghan subject and fled the state arsenic the Taliban violative accelerated.

“We came retired of necessity. The Taliban person attacked our state and present they power it, we anticipation that the Turkish authorities (accept us),” 1 of them, Feroz Seddiqi, told the AP. He explained that they had scaled a upland to scope Turkey, enduring thirst and hunger.

Nesar Ahmad, different subordinate of the group, said they besides experienced looting by thieves who took distant their wealth and mobile phones.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's authorities had brushed disconnected warnings and disapproval from absorption parties astir an summation successful the fig of migrants from Afghanistan. This week, helium admitted that Turkey faces a caller exile question from Afghanistan and said his authorities would enactment with Pakistan to effort and bring stableness successful the war-ravage country. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the borderline with Iran is being reinforced with troops and that a partition being erected astatine the borderline is nearing completion.

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Turkey is already location to immoderate 4 cardinal migrants — astir of them Syrians refugees who fled the civilian warfare successful the neighboring country. Anti-migration sentiment is already moving precocious successful the state arsenic it grapples with economical woes - including precocious unemployment - that person been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Video images circulating connected societal media implicit the past months person shown groups of young men allegedly arriving successful Turkey from Iran. Some media reported that up to 1,000 migrants person been crossing the borderline with Iran each day.

Opposition parties person been calling connected the authorities to “take power of the borders” and forestall a caller migration surge.

They person besides warned against immoderate caller migration statement betwixt Turkey and Western nations similar the 1 Ankara reached with the EU successful 2016. Under that deal, Ankara agreed to forestall the travel of migrants to Europe portion the EU for its portion promised, among different things, to nonstop billions of Euros to Turkey for the Syrian refugees.

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The main absorption enactment has besides claimed that Erdogan struck a concealed woody with U.S. President Joe Biden nether which Turkey would judge Afghans who had worked with U.S. forces. The U.S. Embassy released a connection connected Wednesday saying the claims are “completely without foundation.”

Akar, who inspected the borderline with Iran connected Sunday, said that immoderate 62,000 radical were prevented from crossing that frontier since the commencement of the year.

“We volition intensify our efforts and reenforce the knowing that our borders are impassable,” helium said.

Yeni Safak newspaper, which is adjacent to the government, reported that a 155 kilometer- (96 mile) agelong of a planned 241 kilometer (150 mile) partition has already been erected astatine the border. Nearly 200 ticker towers equipped with electro-optical surveillance person besides been constructed, the insubstantial said.

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Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser successful Ankara, Turkey and Tameem Akhgar and Robert Badendieck successful Istanbul, contributed.

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