Turkey has finally moved to set up a national authority to plan and oversee the demining of massive minefields, most of them along the Syrian border, months after missing its deadline under the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty. The 10-year period for Turkey to clear the mines expired in March 2014. With progress next to zero, some 1 million mines remain buried in the border regions and predominantly Kurdish areas in the interior, posing fatal hazards for civilians and preventing the use of otherwise arable land.

In early December, the defense commission in parliament approved a draft law for the establishment of a National Mine Action Center, which the government described as an “urgent” matter. The general assembly is expected to pass the bill in the coming days. Human rights activists and observers have welcomed the move, but misgivings persist that even the new clearance deadline of March 1, 2022, may be a tall task for Turkey, as the war in Syria drags on and Ankara’s track record inspires little confidence.

Turkey’s most recent attempt at a major clearance operation failed in 2013, when it quietly canceled a tender to select a demining company to clear the Syrian border. Speaking at a Dec. 8 meeting of the defense commission, Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz argued that the cancelation had been necessary because of the conflict in Syria and the Islamic State's (IS) presence across the border. “Aren’t all parties saying that members of the IS terrorist group should be prevented from entering Turkey?” he asked. “How could any reasonable person ask us to remove mines while the conflict in Syria is going on? That’s impossible.”

At least three Syrian refugees have been killed and nine others injured in mine blasts near the border, Human Rights Watch reported in December, citing reports of at least 70 explosions in a mined belt used by Syrians fleeing the IS offensive against Kobani.