Page 11 - TURKRptOct21

2.2 Afghanistan
As of September 5, a Turkish civilian technical team was working at the general terminal of the Kabul airport.
Turkey has also reportedly taken additional security measures in neighbouring Pakistan, deploying special forces and other equipment to use in case of emergencies in Kabul.
This means Turkey may enter a de facto war in Afghanistan at any moment in case of an attack targeting the airport. The Afghanistan war is supposed to create dramatic consequences in Turkey, which has been living through the outcomes of the Syria war.
Turkey is “attempting” to prevent Afghans fleeing the Taliban crossing its border via Iran, but its moves are highly unlikely to succeed because the “refugees will always find a way into the country”, according to Fadi Hakura, head of the Turkey Project at foreign affairs think tank Chatham House.
The Iran-Turkey border is 534 kilometres (332 miles) in length.
In 2015, Turkey allowed in over one million Syrian and non-Syrian migrants via Turkey into Europe. About 4mn immigrants still stay in Turkey.
Recent days may have seen up to 7,000 refugees per day from Afghanistan crossing a largely unpoliced 980-kilometre (608-mile) border into Iran. The number of Afghan refugees in Iran has in recent times fluctuated between 3mn and 4mn people. Only one-third had legal residency permits.
Up to 500,000 people from Afghanistan entered Iran in the last four months. 0.5mn Afghan students are studying in public schools in Iran.
Germany has so far pledged to take more than 40,000 people escaping Afghanistan.
Economic collapse and intensifying violence are expected to cause more Afghans to flee from the country in the coming period.
2.3 Virus
On September 7, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that two people were diagnosed with the mu coronavirus variant in Turkey.
Officials say that more than 90% of the COVID-19 infections in Turkey are delta or delta plus.
On September 7 the Russian Association of Tour Operators estimated that the tourist flow from Russia to Turkey in 2021 would reach 4-4.5mn people. That would be a far higher total than was experienced in 2020, the year in which the coronavirus pandemic broke out, but it would trail the 6mn figure recorded in coronavirus-free 2019.
11 TURKEY Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com