Turkey moves to clear more landmines along its borders
At a time of increasing threats along its borders, Turkey is proceeding to fulfill its obligations to an international mine clearance treaty. Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz told lawmakers that the work to clear landmines on the country's eastern borders will start in April. He said more than 222,000 landmines will be cleared, and the country aims to conclude mine clearance operations all across Turkey by 2022.
The government plans to clear its borders of hundreds of thousands of landmines, five years after it abolished the use of anti-personnel landmines by the Turkish Armed Forces. A mine clearance agency that is tasked with removing 975,674 landmines planted in the country's border regions was established last year.
The country became a party to the Ottawa Treaty, a worldwide convention for the clearance and banning of anti-personnel mines in 2004, and was granted an extension to the time frame it was required to destroy all landmines in its territories in 2013 as Turkey failed to meet the first deadline in March 2014. Turkey's efforts to clear the landmines were hindered when unrest erupted in Syria in 2011, with which it shares a 915-kilometer-long border, heavily covered with mines. Conflict between the government and the opposition on planned tenders for the landmine clearance work further complicated efforts.
Yılmaz said country's Syrian border only is home to more than 194,000 anti-tank mines. He added that measures were in place to prevent further casualties from landmine explosions such as two lines of barbed wire in mined areas and signs warning about the mines. He added they were also setting up a database with information on landmine victims. According to statistics, more than 6,000 people were either maimed or killed in Turkey between 1984 and 2009 due to landmines. The Turkish Armed Forces began planting landmines on the borders in the 1950s as a precaution against smugglers. Unofficial figures provided by anti-mining activists show seven people were killed in landmine explosions in the past three years and another 29 were wounded.
Though the eastern borders of the country are relatively more secure, the Syrian border remains tricky for mine clearance work. Officials say landmines tend to drift away from their original locations due to earthquakes, floods and other natural causes. However, it is unclear how this will affect the removal of mines on the Syrian border, which is plagued by the ongoing conflict between rebels and the Syrian regime as well as DAESH and Syrian Kurdish groups.
The government plans to clear its borders of hundreds of thousands of landmines, five years after it abolished the use of anti-personnel landmines by the Turkish Armed Forces. A mine clearance agency that is tasked with removing 975,674 landmines planted in the country's border regions was established last year.
The country became a party to the Ottawa Treaty, a worldwide convention for the clearance and banning of anti-personnel mines in 2004, and was granted an extension to the time frame it was required to destroy all landmines in its territories in 2013 as Turkey failed to meet the first deadline in March 2014. Turkey's efforts to clear the landmines were hindered when unrest erupted in Syria in 2011, with which it shares a 915-kilometer-long border, heavily covered with mines. Conflict between the government and the opposition on planned tenders for the landmine clearance work further complicated efforts.
Yılmaz said country's Syrian border only is home to more than 194,000 anti-tank mines. He added that measures were in place to prevent further casualties from landmine explosions such as two lines of barbed wire in mined areas and signs warning about the mines. He added they were also setting up a database with information on landmine victims. According to statistics, more than 6,000 people were either maimed or killed in Turkey between 1984 and 2009 due to landmines. The Turkish Armed Forces began planting landmines on the borders in the 1950s as a precaution against smugglers. Unofficial figures provided by anti-mining activists show seven people were killed in landmine explosions in the past three years and another 29 were wounded.
Though the eastern borders of the country are relatively more secure, the Syrian border remains tricky for mine clearance work. Officials say landmines tend to drift away from their original locations due to earthquakes, floods and other natural causes. However, it is unclear how this will affect the removal of mines on the Syrian border, which is plagued by the ongoing conflict between rebels and the Syrian regime as well as DAESH and Syrian Kurdish groups.