Kapıkule

Kapıkule is the name of the Turkish border crossing point in Edirne Province on the border of Turkey and Bulgaria. Its counterpart on the Bulgarian side is Kapitan Andreevo. Together, they form the busiest land border crossing point in Europe.^[1]

Kapıkule
Kapıkule Border Crossing Turkey to Bulgaria on the state road D-100
Kapıkule Location of Kapıkule in Turkey Show map of Turkey Kapıkule Kapıkule (Marmara) Show map of Marmara
Coordinates: 41°42′28.6″N 26°23′31.1″E
Country	Turkey
Region	Marmara Region
Province	Edirne
District	Edirne
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code	22770
Area code	0284

Kapıkule, situated on the State road D100 (D.100) and European route E80, is also an important gateway for cargo transport to the countries east of Turkey. The Asian Highway Network route AH1 terminates at the border. Other land border checkpoints in western Turkey are the neighboring Hamzabeyli (on the D.535) and Dereköy (on the D.555) to Bulgaria and İpsala (on the D.110, E84) to Greece.^[1] The Kapıkule railway station, built in 1971, is located to the north of the town and handles more traffic than any other railway border crossing in Turkey.

In the dawn of the Revolutions of 1989, the Kapıkule border crossing saw a mass exodus of Turks fleeing the forced assimilation laws of the mid to late 1980s in the People's Republic of Bulgaria into Turkey.^[2]

Border checkpoint facilities

Around 400,000 vehicles and 4,000,000 people cross annually the border in Kapıkule that makes 35% of all the vehicle and 42% of all the passenger traffic passing through the land borders of Turkey. To meet the demand resulting from growing international crossings, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) signed an agreement with the government in August 2007 to completely overhaul the facilities on Build-Operate-Transfer basis at a cost of 132 million TRL (US$100 million in 2007) in exchange for twenty-year operation.^[3][4]

The checkpoint reopened in the beginning of 2009 with thirteen passenger car and five truck gates for inbound, and seven passenger car and six truck gates for outbound traffic. High tech security equipment like smart-card controlled access, closed-circuit television and X-ray truck cargo check systems are installed at the border area. Commercial services are provided by fast-food restaurants, duty-free shops, outlet stores, supermarkets and banks.^[5] The group of 24 buildings, which house various service facilities, cover 15,000 m² (160,000 sq ft) on the 289,050 m² (3,111,300 sq ft) wide checkpoint area.^[3]

Incidents

On 24 May 2023, 104 followers of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light seeking asylum in Bulgaria were detained at Kapıkule and violently harassed by Turkish authorities.^[6][7][8]

References

1. "Kapıkule Gümrük Kapısı ile ilgili duyuru" (PDF) (in Turkish). Turkish Government-Customs. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 19, 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
2. "Refugees A Modern Balkan Exodus". TIME Magazine. August 14, 1989. Archived from the original on April 15, 2009.
3. Çakan, Barış (August 27, 2007). "TOBB Kapıkule Sınır Kapısının Modernizasyonuna Başladı" (in Turkish). Gaziantep Chamber of Industry. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
4. Türk, Eylem (August 28, 2007). "TOBB, Kapıkule'yi güzelleştirecek". Milliyet (in Turkish). Retrieved February 14, 2009.
5. "Kapıkule inşaatında sona geliniyor". Edirne TV (in Turkish). Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
6. Fautre, Willy (2023-06-05). "Turkey, Physical and sexual violence by police against 100+ Ahmadi asylum-seekers". The European Times News. Retrieved 2024-05-11.
7. "Persecuted Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light minority denied asylum in Europe amidst escalating violence". Global Voices. 2023-05-27. Retrieved 2024-05-11.
8. "Members of religious minority seeking asylum pushed back at Turkish-Bulgarian border". The Sofia Globe. 2023-05-24. Retrieved 2024-05-11.