Turkey Reinforcing Border Against Afghan Refugees

Turkey is reinforcing  its border in an effort to prevent Afghan refugees from crossing over. These reinforcements include a three-meter high wall, ditches and barbed wire, Reuters reported. The Afghan refugees would first have to cross through Iran on foot.

Turkey already is hosting some 4 million Syrian refugees.  There are some 182,000 registered Afghan migrants in Turkey and up to an estimated 120,000 unregistered ones, according to the report.

Turkey does not want to become “Europe’s migrant storage unit,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said.

Bahrain, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan have agreed to serve as transit point for refugees from Afghanistan, and potential Afghan refugees who have not yet been cleared for resettlement in the United States will be housed at facilities in Albania, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Qatar, Rwanda, Ukraine and Uganda.