ANKARA

The Turkish army has taken a number of extra measures to prevent illegal crossings to and from Syria in the last three years.

Military sources, speaking to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to the restrictions on speaking to the media, refuted certain news reports claiming the Fetullah Terrorist Organization’s (FETO) coup attempt on July 15 had affected units on the Syrian border, thus allegedly causing deficiencies in certain areas.

The sources said that the activities of Turkish Armed Forces at the borderline have continued without interruption.

Within this framework, Turkey has erected a 239-kilometer-long (148.5 miles) fixed concrete wall at the border with Syria and is planning to build another one, 207-km-long (128.6 miles).

Turkey shares a 900-km-long (559 miles) border with Syria, which has been involved in a civil war since 2011.

Separately, the set-up of 49 km (30.4 miles) of barbed wire, 72 km (44.7) of a trellis fence, and a 61-km barrier (37.9 miles) of razor accordion-wire has also been completed.

The Turkish Army has also dug a 401-km (249 miles) ditch and built an 86-km-long (53.4 miles) embankment as well as completed a 4-km (2.4 miles) shear wall.

It has also completed the construction of 57 concrete watchtowers at the border regions in the Gaziantep and Kilis provinces and has modernized many existing towers with day-and-night surveillance systems.

Turkish army troops have completed the construction of 85 km (52.8 miles) and improved 1,892 km (1175.6 miles) of roads, and ameliorated lighting on 422 km (262 miles) of the border.

In line with demands, authorities have declared temporary military security zones in 47 regions, while one region was declared a special security zone.

Existing configurations of the border troop units were also re-examined.

In addition, border units were supplied with additional tanks, armored vehicles, air defense systems and weapons, radars and support systems.

 Blocking illegal border crossings

During the last two years, Turkish troops have prevented 21,256 illegal border crossing attempts, caught 5,159 people and blocked the border crossing for 117,256 others.

Reporting by Merve Yildizalp : Writing by Fatjon Prronı