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Syrian customs officers cut through Turkey to get to work
While the Bashar al-Assad-led Syrian government continues to launch attacks on civilians using heavy weaponry, the Free Syrian Army is reported to be taking many parts of the country under their control. About 75 percent of Idlib province, where the Bab al-Hawa border crossing is located, is under control of the insurgents, who have established checkpoints on the roads in the province. Fierce clashes erupt between the air-backed Syrian army troops and the Free Syrian Army-affiliated insurgents. Therefore, Syrian customs officials living in cities like Latakia enter Turkey from the Yayladağı border crossing and travel to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from the Turkish territories for security reasons.
Syrian customs officials, including civilians as well as military or police officers, work on 24-hour or 48-hour shifts and prefer to take the Turkish route to their work. A customs official living in Latakia can reach Bab al-Hawa in about one-and-a-half hours via Turkey.
Meanwhile, reactions Turkey has raised against the Syrian government’s violent practices have been taking its toll on trade between the two countries. The bilateral relations that were strained to the furthest limit after Syria recently shot down a Turkish jet have come to a standstill.
According to reports from Turkish officials at the Cilvegözü border crossing, the number of daily passages has dropped to 40. In three out of six border crossings between the two countries, there is virtually no freight transit. In five of them, passenger transit can be maintained.
Turkey’s exports to Syria decreased by 62 percent from $476 million in the first four months of 2011 to $220 million in the same period this year. Its imports, too, exhibited an 88 percent drop from $246 million to $28 million in the same period.
The Syrian crisis has also virtually stopped both the border trade and the mutual visits between relatives, who cannot even use the telephone because of broken lines or fear of being wiretapped. Many families in Turkey cannot talk to their relatives in Syria.
Strong language against Turkey and Turkish PM
A Turkish truck driver, A.Y., said Syrian officials forced them to use strong language against Turkey and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when they stopped to cross the border. He indicated that Syrian military officials asked them for steep bribes. Noting that there is much anger against Turkey and Prime Minister Erdoğan in Syria, the truck driver said they were harassed by the regime’s soldiers and that their money and loads were stolen.
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