Turkey plans to build an 8.5-kilometer barbed wire fence on its western border, where Greece and Bulgaria have already erected their own fences. The fence is aimed at preventing migrants from crossing into EU member states. Turkey has built walls and barbed wire on its borders with Iran and Syria in the past.
Turkey shares a 200-kilometer border with Greece, and the border is divided by the Evros River, called the Meriç in Turkish. In 2012, Greece built two three-meter-high barbed wire fences along 11 kilometers of its border with Turkey. She later tripled the length of the barbed wire fence, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledging to extend it to more than 100 kilometers by 2026. In 2014, Bulgaria erected a 30-kilometer barbed wire fence along its border with Turkey. Four years later, the barbed wire fence was extended to cover almost the entire 260-kilometer border.
Turkey’s west coast is also a departure point for migrants seeking to reach the Greek islands. In February, six migrants drowned and 27 were rescued by the coast guard when their boat began to sink off Turkey’s west coast.