Kurdistan Observer

The Turkish daily Radical said on Tuesday that Turkey is preparing to open the border gate "Aqja Kale" which belongs to Shanli Orfa province following the renovation of this castle and converting it into a first class border gate.

The paper said that that through opening this gate which adjoins the Tel Abyad area in Syria, Turkey will achieve three things altogether "the first is openness to Syria, second to reaching Baghdad without facing the Kurdish groups in northern Iraq, and thirdly foiling the reaction showed by the US against opening a second border gate between Turkey and Iraq."

The paper explained that work still continuous between officials in the Turkish foreign ministry, the customs department and the army chief of staff and the province of Orfa to convert this gate from a "three star castle" to a "five star" one and traffic though it is to start in 2003. The paper noted that opening this gate will lead to the achievement of "al-Ghab project" with its set objective as the exporting of agricultural production from that area to Syria and Iraq and the other countries of the region.

The paper indicated that the Turkish trucks that will pass through this gate will be able to reach Iraq after driving a short distance in Syria, without being obliged to run through the areas controlled by the Kurds in northern Iraq, adding that for that purpose, efforts continue to open the Turkish general consulate in Mousel and the Iraqi Consulate in Istanbul.

The castle's renovation is expected to be at a cost of 625,000 dollars.