Iran’s border with Turkey has become one of the few practical exit routes for some travelers as the country’s airspace remains shut after strikes on Tehran that have escalated the Middle East war, the Associated Press reported March 8. At the Kapıköy border crossing in eastern Turkey near Van province, AP found that most people moving through in recent days had connections with Turkey through work, family, and friends, and many had shifted preplanned visits forward because of the conflict.

AP reported that only a small number of Iranians at the border told the news agency they planned to remain in Turkey for an indefinite period to escape the war. Some travelers were transiting through Turkey using third-country residency or citizenship, while others described trips aimed at continuing to destinations beyond Turkey.

Among those heading out, Reza Gol, a 38-year-old plastic surgeon, said he was traveling from Urmia to Istanbul to see patients, where he previously lived. “It’s not clear whether we will leave Iran for good, but I can clear my head a little bit in the meantime,” Gol said. He added that the border did not look “that crowded,” and that many people were staying put rather than abandoning everything.

Pooneh Asghari and her husband, Iranian-Canadian citizens, said they were preparing to fly to Canada but were trying to make the trip brief because they no longer have a house there and both of them work in Iran. “We’ve been living in Iran for over the last five years,” Asghari said. “All our life is there.”

Fariba, a woman who asked to be identified only by her first name for security reasons, said she was traveling to İzmir in western Turkey to wait out the war with her son. She told AP that many friends and neighbors lacked the means to escape, describing a mix of poverty and fear that contributed to the lack of a large exodus.

The situation at the border has also reflected shifting restrictions and disruptions to travel. AP reported that Turkey’s trade minister announced the mutual suspension of day-trip crossings on Monday, while Iranian border officials restricted passage for some Iranian nationals, according to travelers and local media. Even so, AP said that since Thursday morning, both Iranians and third-country nationals had continued to cross at Kapıköy normally.

Turkey’s Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said in a statement that 2,032 travelers entered Turkey from Iran on Wednesday, while 1,966 of them departed to Iran; more recent figures were not available, AP reported. AP also said that most people who crossed then made their way to the Van airport to continue their journeys, and that on Friday night about 20 passengers—mostly Iranians—were waiting on rows of chairs to catch a flight the next morning.

Mehregan, a 26-year-old student in China, told AP she drove more than 15 hours across Iran after visiting family in Ahvaz for the winter holidays when the war began. She asked not to be identified by her full name out of fear that speaking to media would create problems with Iranian authorities. She said she had planned to sleep at the airport while waiting for a flight to Istanbul, but her flight was canceled because of snowstorms, and she was preparing to look for a hotel rather than stay in the airport again. “If I can’t get on a flight tomorrow from here I will miss my flight to China” and lose the cost of a nonrefundable ticket, she said.

Van, about a 1.5-hour drive from the border, has long been a stop for Iranians for work, travel, and trade, particularly around Nowruz in mid-March when hotels and shops typically see stronger business. Resat Yeşilağaç, who owns two hotels in Van, told AP that the city is quieter than usual, with the current visitors “mostly” those who have come because of the war. He said many were dual nationals who stayed in Van for a day or so before flying out.

Fears about migration have remained a sensitive issue in Turkey, which has previously hosted nearly 4 million Syrian refugees. AP reported that Turkey has been enhancing its border defenses in response to concerns about people potentially fleeing unrest in Iran, including after mass anti-government protests in January that were met by a brutal crackdown. In January, Turkey’s defense ministry said Turkey has 380 kilometers (235 miles) of concrete walls, 203 optical towers, and 43 elevator-equipped towers along its 560-kilometer (350-mile) border with Iran.

On Wednesday, Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci told AP that Turkey has drawn up contingency plans involving tent camps and buffer zones to respond to a possible influx from Iran, though AP reported that so far such an influx had not materialized. An Iranian-Canadian man named Harrison Mirtar, 53, described crossing into Turkey at Kapıköy before continuing to Canada after visiting his parents in Tehran. He told AP he was angry about foreign intervention in his country but said he was “not too worried about leaving” his parents behind because “They are in their homeland,” adding: “Life is going on, but with some bombs.”

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