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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ADANA 000009 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC ECON PTER TU SY PREL
SUBJECT: TURKEY:  SPIKE IN SYRIAN VISITORS TO SOUTHERN TURKEY FOUR 
MONTHS AFTER VISA REQUIREMENT LIFTED 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  The reciprocal abolishment of the visa 
regime between Turkey and Syria on September 18, 2009, has 
resulted in a spike in Syrian visitors to Mersin, Hatay and 
Gaziantep.  According to contacts, the travel, tourism and 
retail sectors have seen vigorous business that only promises to 
increase.  While Turkey and Syria enjoy a long history of 
commercial and familial ties, large areas of the border remain 
heavily mined, posing a challenge to advancing economic and 
trade expansion.  From a security perspective, entry procedures 
such as swiping machine-readable passports and performing name 
checks remain unchanged.  Security personnel are concerned that 
incidents of smuggling goods, a longstanding problem, will rise. 
 Turkey has six primary commercial and passenger-vehicle border 
gates, and one railway gate reopened on December 22, 2009, for 
the new Gaziantep-Aleppo train service.  Discussions to reopen a 
seventh border gate in Sirnak, closed since 1972, are underway. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
DESPITE PAST BILATERAL STRAIN, LONG HISTORY OF COMMERCIAL AND 
FAMILIAL TIES 
 
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----------------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Turkey's longest  border is with Syria, and six 
border provinces - Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Mardin 
and Sirnak - have a long history of deep commercial and familial 
ties with Syria.  Communities of ethnically Arab Turks in the 
south and southeast maintain those ties on a daily basis.  The 
Turkish-Arab Countries Business Association has its headquarters 
in Mersin, where for several years a ferryboat service linked 
the city to Syria's port of Latakia.  Currently, negotiations 
are underway to re-launch the ferry service.  For many decades 
before the September 2009 reciprocal abolition of visas, Turkey 
and Syria had an agreement allowing families to cross back and 
forth visa-free during two important religious holidays - Kurban 
Bayram (Sacrifice Holiday, or Eid al-Adha) and Seker Bayram 
(Sugar Holiday, or Eid al-Fitr).  These business and family ties 
have endured despite bilateral tensions dating back to the 
foundation of the Hatay Republic in 1938, the Hatay Republic's 
decision to become a Turkish province in 1939, through the Cold 
War, the terrorism peak in the 1990s when Syria harbored PKK 
leader Abdullah Ocalan, and the ongoing water disputes.  The 
surviving mark of bad relations is heavily mined areas along the 
border, which business contacts complain hinders the expansion 
of commerce and trade, particularly in the areas of agribusiness 
and transportation infrastructure. 
 
 
 
SIX MAIN BORDER GATES WITH PLANS FOR A SEVENTH 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
---------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Six main border gates are currently in operation, 
with negotiations underway to open a seventh.  At the apex of 
good relations, Turkey and Syria once had 13 border gates. 
Hatay province has two gates:  Cilvegozu, which is the busier 
gate, and Yayladag.  In 2008, the Union of Chambers and 
Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) renovated the Turkish side 
of Yayladagi, but, according to contacts, bottlenecks of 
commercial and passenger vehicles continue because the Syrians 
still have not modernized their side.  When they do so, business 
owners estimate the volume of traffic at Cilvegozu could be 
reduced by one third.  According to the Hatay Chamber of 
Commerce (HCOC), Syria still requires Turkish commercial trucks 
to enter in one convoy daily at 1400 hours.  Members of the HCOC 
complained this policy forces drivers who miss the window to 
wait 24 hours to join the next convoy, significantly hampering 
business. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Kilis, once part of Gaziantep and carved out in 1996 
as an independent province, has two border gates with Syria: 
Oncupinar and Cobanbey.  The Gaziantep Chamber of Industry said 
Oncupinar gate, also on TOBB's to-be-renovated list, is used 
primarily by passenger vehicles and tourism buses and has a 
volume of daily border traffic of about 600-700 vehicles, a 
spike from pre-visa abolishment numbers of around 50 vehicles. 
After 28 years of laying fallow, Cobanbey gate is a railway-only 
 
ADANA 00000009  002 OF 004 
 
 
crossing that opened on December 22, 2009, after an extensive 
demining program.  Direct rail service from Gaziantep to Aleppo 
has begun with twice weekly trips for 277-passenger-capacity 
cars.  The service will continue for six months, after which an 
economic assessment will consider continuation. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  According to Akcalale Customs Director Ali Ozdemir, 
the Akcalale border gate in Sanliurfa province processes about 
1,500 outbound and inbound passengers daily.  He estimated a 200 
percent increase in passenger traffic since the lifting of the 
visa requirement.  Ozdemir said the Akcakale gate, fully opened 
to commercial cargo transit in February 2008, does brisk 
business, with approximately 500 trucks daily carrying cement 
and other goods from Turkey to Syria and returning empty. 
Ozdemir stated talks about expanding and modernizing the gate 
had been ongoing for the past three years, but no improvements 
had been made at the site.  A smaller gate in Sanliurfa, the 
Ceylanpinar border crossing, is for passenger vehicles only. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  In Mardin, Nusaybin border gate Customs Director 
Sukru Adas said the gate was opened in 1953 as a "pasavan kapi," 
specifically to allow Turkish and Syrian citizens to pay mutual 
visits to their relatives.  He estimated the gate was processing 
about 500 passengers daily in both directions, but could not 
provide a figure for commercial trucks.  Adas said plans for 
modernizing the gate were at the High Planning Committee in 
Ankara, but he did not know when construction would start. 
Mardin province has a second border gate at Senyurt. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Cizre Chamber of Commerce President Adana Elci said 
Sirnak province's border gate 17 kilometers south of Cizre was 
operational from 1940-1972, when it was shut down by Turkey for 
security reasons related to the Cold War.  The deputy governor 
of Sirnak province confirmed negotiations were underway to 
reopen the gate, giving Sirnak the distinction of having border 
crossings with both Syria and Iraq (at Habur). 
 
 
 
SECURITY STILL A PRIORITY 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Hatay Deputy Director of Security Ali Keskin said 
lifting the visa requirement had no impact on standard security 
measures such as passport control and name checks, and assured 
Consulate security staff that computerized security systems were 
operational at border gates.  The main effect of the visa 
abolishment is relief from the reciprocally levied 55 Euro fee. 
Hatay province's Antakya Chamber of Commerce President Hikmet 
Cincin said Turkish citizens crossing visa-free into Syria may 
stay for up to 30 days.  Turkish citizens who wish to stay 
longer must apply for a visa (without charge) at the Syrian 
Consulate in Gaziantep or the Syrian Embassy in Ankara. 
Additionally, Syria continues to levy a fee of USD 10 per 
gas-fueled passenger vehicle and up to USD 400 per commercial 
truck.  Turkey levies an exit fee of USD 10 for all citizens 
departing the country. 
 
 
 
 
 
SOUTHERN PROVINCES SEE SPIKE IN SYRIAN VISITORS AND TOURISM 
 
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--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  Of all the border provinces, Gaziantep has the most 
vigorous commercial ties with Syria.  With its sister chamber in 
Aleppo, the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce is the only chamber in 
Turkey with a Syria Trade and Liaison Office employing a 
full-time staff member.  Opened in 2008, the office's aim is to 
expand bilateral trade and business by providing Turkish 
companies with the full gamut of free consulting services, 
including organizing meetings and trade delegations, publishing 
information, and offering business matchmaking services for 
investors.  Office Coordinator Emin Berk said he receives calls 
from all over Turkey about how to do business with Syria.  He 
 
ADANA 00000009  003 OF 004 
 
 
said although businessmen have concerns about Syria's closed 
economy, the lack of an internationally accepted banking system, 
the lack of skilled labor, and the authoritarian government, 
they still appear ready to invest.  Chamber Secretary General 
Halil Gocer said the removal of visas has contributed greatly to 
Syrian tourism in Gaziantep.  On another level, Gaziantep 
Chamber of Industry Secretary General Kursat Goncu said lifting 
the visa had helped "increase confidence between the two 
countries and heightened awareness of commercial opportunities." 
 Goncu believed long-term effects might be negative, however, as 
Syria has a highly developed black market, with most economic 
activities controlled by a small political elite that is 
reluctant to change.  That black market activity may spread even 
further into Turkey, Goncu suggested.  In business, however, 
Goncu said, one cannot ignore that Aleppo alone has a 
4.5-million person market. 
 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Antakya CoC President Cincin said Antakya's hotel 
bookings had increased by 50 percent since September 2009, and 
that local tourism and travel agencies were busy developing 
Hatay-focused packages for Syrian visitors.  From Hatay, Syrian 
visitors are able to reach quickly other parts of Turkey as well 
as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).  Cincin said 
Turkish Airlines had increased the number of Hatay-Istanbul 
flights from two to three weekly, and private airlinePegasus had 
commenced direct Hatay-TRNC flights.   The minister of 
transportation announced recently that Hatay Airport was among 
the two most profitable airports in Turkey in 2009.  Cincin 
noted six major Syrian cities lie at a distance of 80-120 
kilometers from Hatay, representing a six-million person market 
and attractive investment area for Turkish businesses.  The 
Antakya Chamber will soon establish a sister relationship with 
the chamber of commerce in Syria's Idlip, which is also where 
Turkish company Intas plans to build a pipe factory. 
 
 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  Hatay's  Mustafa Kemal University (MKU) Rector 
Serefettin Canda told PolOff  the university's medical clinic 
had received an influx of Syrian patients in the last few 
months.  He said he is working on expanding the healthcare 
market with the acquisition of computerized surgical equipment, 
currently possessed only by hospitals in Istanbul and Ankara, so 
that his medical department could become an "attraction center 
for the Middle Eastern countries."  Canda is working on amending 
regulations governing university admissions to allow at least 
ten Syrian students to study medicine at MKU beginning in 2011. 
 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU)  Mersin Chamber of Commerce President Serafettin Asut 
said droves of Syrian tourists were coming to Mersin to enjoy 
the beaches and the city's upscale shopping area, Forum.  Asut 
said Forum's manager told him it was easy to tell when Syrian 
tourists were in town as Mersin turned into a cash economy, 
whereas most Turks pay for purchases with debit cards.  Currency 
exchange bureaus turning dollars into Turkish lira are more 
active now, he said.  Asut said he recognized the potential of 
the Syrian market, but acknowledged Hatay and Gaziantep had the 
Aleppo area in hand.  Instead, Asut is setting his Chamber's 
sights on Damascus where, from February 22-28, he will host a 
"Mersin Days" exposition to promote the city along with a group 
of more than 100 businessmen and representatives from Mersin 
University, the Free Zone, and the port.  Asut said he would 
discuss reviving the hydrofoil service between Latakia and 
Mersin while in Damascus.  Hilton Hotel's director of business 
development in Mersin said she believed Syrian tourist bookings 
were up at least 25 percent year on year, and she had noticed a 
significant spike in Syrian visitors since September 2009. 
 
 
 
¶13. (SBU)  Unlike Hatay, Gaziantep and Mersin, Kilis province, 
carved out of Gaziantep in 1996, has not benefited from the 
abolishment of the visa requirement, according to Kilis Chamber 
of Commerce Secretary General Murat Sakar.  Kilis produces 
agricultural commodities that are already available in Syria at 
much lower prices, and because Kilis lacks tourism 
infrastructure such as restaurants and large retail shopping 
areas, Syrian visitors are transiting the province without 
stopping. 
 
 
 
¶14.  (SBU)  President of the Turkish-Arab Countries Business 
Association Dogan Narin said Turkey's recent strategic 
agreements with Syria were positive for the region and predicted 
 
ADANA 00000009  004 OF 004 
 
 
things would only get better.  Turkey's exports to Arab 
countries in 2008 totaled USD 25 billion, and of that, USD 1.115 
billion went to Syria.  Syria's exports to Turkey in 2008 were 
USD 639 million.  Turkish and Syrian leaders have publicized a 
target of USD 5 billion in trade volume in five years. 
 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
------------------ 
 
 
 
¶15.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  Contacts are sanguine about the future of 
the expanding Turkish-Syrian relationship and its implication 
for commercial ties for south and southeast Turkey.  Several 
contacts lamented the inertia on the Syrian side in not matching 
Turkey's border gate renovation efforts, rendering cross-border 
commerce sluggish and inefficient.  All contacts dismissed 
security-related concerns that the abolishment of the visa 
regime would lead to porous borders without safeguards.  One 
contact in particular assured us that as Turkey had been poised 
to invade Syria only eleven years ago, and despite the publicly 
displayed warmth between PM Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar 
al-Assad, Turkey would not lose sight of the fact the PKK 
continues to seek harbor in Syria.  END COMMENT. 
DARNELL