Minister of Customs and Trade Hayati Yazıcı has announced that Syrian and third-party country nationals will still be allowed to pass. Yazıcı also stated that this was in no way an embargo, but was a 'temporary measure' being taken due to the inoperable state of the borders. "There are neither officers nor equipment remaining on the other side. Even if we allowed passage how would these vehicles cross over," Yazıcı said. Minister Yazıcı also mentioned that citizens will still be able to cross through the Yayladağ and Akçakale borders. Refugees from Syria, who have been fleeing into Turkey in their thousands to escape the conflict, cross the border through smuggling routes.
Syrian rebels seized control of several gates on the Syrian side of the frontier over the last week in their 16-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.