One of the most telling signs of Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian civil war is the Bukulmez outpost at Reyhanli. The view from the outpost’s tower illustrates graphically Ankara’s position in the uprising against the Syrian regime. Eyes that were tasked to monitor the border from the tower were blind to breaches of the border at an illegal crossing point in front of the outpost that was the main supply line for the rebels in Syria. This meant that outpost didn’t carry out its true duties.

Now under international pressure, Turkey has been erecting a wall along the border. Concrete T-walls are going up — not on the border line, but on the Turkish side of the border opposite Syria’s Atme town.

Those who cannot cross to Turkey are building houses that are therefore on the Turkish side; where they are settling down is not Syria but Turkish land. Concrete walls begin following the border proper when they reach Afrin.

Afrin is one of three cantons the Kurds have declared in the area they call Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan). Afrin has been besieged by Turkey since 2012 when the Democratic Union Party (PYD) declared autonomy. The Turkey-Syria border that had been a free-for-all since 2011 became impassable when Turkey decided to put pressure on the PYD.