Türkiye Reopens Akcakale Land Border Gate With Syria For Full Civilian Operations

Türkiye is reopening the Akcakale Land Border Gate, a key crossing point into northern Syria, for full civilian operations for the first time in over a decade.

“The Şanlıurfa governorate in southeastern Turkey announced the opening of the Akçakale border crossing opposite the Syrian city of Tel Abyad, starting tomorrow, Tuesday, after years of closure due to security conditions and the war in Syria”

Al-Jazeera Net

The Şanlıurfa Governorship said passport-based entry and exit procedures would take effect on May 12, following a directive from the Interior Ministry.

Al-Jazeera Net

The gate had been closed to civilian and commercial traffic in 2014 as Syria’s civil war intensified, with limited operations resuming in 2019 restricted to humanitarian aid deliveries, commercial cargo, and authorized government personnel.

The Akcakale crossing sits opposite the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, in an area that became a flashpoint in 2015 when Daesh briefly seized Tel Abyad.

Under the new arrangement described by Türkiye Today, three categories of travelers may use the Akcakale gate with a valid passport: Turkish citizens, Syrian nationals holding dual citizenship, and Syrian nationals residing in Türkiye under a valid residence permit or a work permit that substitutes for one.

Türkiye Today also said Syrian nationals currently registered under Türkiye’s temporary protection status fall outside the passport crossing scheme, and their requests for commercial, condolence, or other travel will continue to be assessed individually through the Humanitarian Aid and Coordination Center operating under the Şanlıurfa Governorship.

Asharq Al-Awsat English

Asharq Al-Awsat English reported that the reopening of the Akcakale crossing ends a 12-year closure and is the latest step in Damascus’s move towards normalization with its neighbors.

The Straits Times said the reopening will mean six of the 12 crossings between Türkiye and Syria will be open, and it quoted the Şanlıurfa governor’s office saying, “entry and exit procedures using passports to and from the Syrian Arab Republic via the Akcakale Land Border Crossing will start on Tuesday.”

L’Orient-Le Jour said the border crossing linking the Turkish town of Akçakale to the Syrian town of Tal Abyad will reopen in full on Tuesday after being brought under central control on the Syrian side.

“A border crossing between Turkey and Syria that has been closed since 2014 due to the war will reopen in full on Tuesday after being brought under central control on the Syrian side, Turkish authorities announced on Monday”

L'Orient-Le Jour

It added that Turkish authorities said the reopening is made possible by the agreement sealed at the end of January between Syria’s Kurdish forces and the central government in Damascus, under which the Kurdish fighters who ran the region ceded control of the border crossing.

L’Orient-Le Jour also reported that Syria is normalizing, citing Türkiye’s ambassador to Damascus, Nuh Yilmaz, who wrote on X in response to the announcement.

Asharq Al-Awsat English framed the reopening as part of Damascus’s normalization with its neighbors, noting that the crossing was closed by Türkiye in 2014 after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took over the town following the defeat of ISIS.