Mine Action in Turkey
History and Current Status
Landmines were laid along the borders and certain areas outside the borders from 1955 until 1998. These land mines were generally laid along the borders to prevent illegal migration or smuggling activities or for security reasons. The landmines are only located in Armenian, Azerbaijan, Iranian, Iraq and Syrian Borders. Turkey’s western borders with Greece and Bulgaria, as well as the border with Georgia, however, are mine-free.
In line with the growing international sentiment against anti-personnel landmines, Turkey issued a three-year moratorium on all transfers of anti-personnel landmines on 17 January 1996. The moratorium was subsequently extended twice, and on 17 January 2002 extended indefinitely. Turkey ratified the Ottawa Treaty on 25 September 2003 and the Convention entered into force for Turkey on 1 March 2004.
In accordance with Article 5 of the Convention, Turkey ensured the destruction of all anti-personnel mines no later than 1 March 2014. However, only a small amount of clearance was conducted during a 10-year period due to delays in setting up a national mine action authority, inconvenient weather and security conditions in border areas. Turkey submitted a request in March 2013 asking for an eight-year extension until 2022. The request was granted at the Thirteen Meeting of the States Parties and a new deadline was set for 01 March 2022.
Legislation in Mine Action
The Law on the Establishment of a National Mine Authority and Mine Action Centre adopted by the Turkish Parliament and approved by the President on 22 January 2015. The Law provides the necessary legal basis for mine clearing activities in Turkey. This law authorised the TUR MND to establish NMAA and NMAC. It is expected that the establishment of both organisation will be completed in mid 2015. It is obvious that after the establishment of the NMAA and NMAC mine action activities and clearance projects will gain acceleration.
Demining Projects
There are three major Mine Action projects in Turkey now:
Socioeconomic Development through Demining and Increasing the Border Surveillance Capacity at the Eastern Borders of Turkey
The purpose of the project is to contribute to the prevention of illegal migration and all types of cross-border crimes in line with EU’s border management policies via de-mining the area and providing effective and humanitarian border surveillance tools for a modern border surveillance system.
These landmines limit the operational capacity of Turkey in the border areas. They prevent the establishment of good functioning border surveillance systems and as a result lead to a decrease in the efficiency in the fight against illegal migration, cross-border crimes and smuggling. Demining is an indispensable part of an integrated border management system.
With the project it is expected that 11.665.641 m2 area will be cleared from mines and certified in line with the relevant standards. The project will be conducted in three separate clearance lots and includes 223 minefields on the Armenian, Azerbaijan and Iranian borders with Turkey.
Ministry of Interior Border management Bureau is in charge of the project. The Central Finance and Contracting Unit (CFCU) is the Implementing Agency and United Nations Development Programme Turkey (UNDP), has been providing service support for the project. The tender process has been conducted by UNDP Turkey in line with its own tender procedures. Currently Expressions of Interest (EOI) document for Prequalification/Demining of Eastern Borders of Turkey is being finalised and UNDP Turkey announced that both the official EOI document and the deadline will be announced in due course.
Syrian Border Mine Clearance Project (SBMCP)
The “Law on the Tender and Mine Clearing Activities along the Land Border between Turkey and Syria”, was adopted by the Turkish Parliament and approved by the President on 17 June 2009.
The project to clear the mined borderline with Syria, which is 911 kilometers long and on average 350 meters wide, is a major undertaking by any standard. The project not only entails clearance of mines in a safe and environmentally sound manner, but also involves the simultaneous establishment of a new physical border security system with the involvement of other sub-contractors.
The project for the initiation of clearance started in February 2011, with the signing of a “Sales Agreement for Quality Management, Consultancy Support and Certification” between the Ministry of National Defence (MND) and NATO Support Agency (NSPA). This was followed by the announcement of a tendering process in April 2011 and following submission of files by candidate firms, establishment of a short-list of firms. Short-listed firms were invited for tender. In May 2012, the firms were taken to the Syrian border for site survey. But the tender for SBMCP was cancelled by MND during the final contractor selection process because of the developments in Syria in July 2013. SBMCP is currently on hold due to the conflict in the Syria.
Demining project of areas other than borders: 637 mined areas in an area measuring a total of 2.615.648 square meters are located around military installations throughout 11 Provinces. Until now, mine clearance in areas other than borders has been conducted only on a limited scale to clear pathways for urgent needs. Full clearance activities in areas other than borders are awaiting the establishment of the National Mine Action Authority and the Mine Action Centre.
The First Mine Action Seminar in Turkey
The Seminar was successfully held on 05-06 Feb 2015 at the Rixos Hotel in Ankara on the eve of upcoming Southern Border Demining Project. This seminar was co-hosted by NRG Industrial Ltd, TUR and Intelligence-sec Ltd, UK.
The objective of the seminar was to provide an opportunity to discuss the challenges of today’s mine action environments, lessons learned, solutions and developments. It also served to raise awareness regarding Mine Action in Turkey.
The two-day seminar brought together 80 participants from 15 countries and more than a dozen regional and international organisations to discuss a wealth of mine action topics including, Mine Action in Turkey, Mine Action Contracting, Victim Assistance, Mine Risk Education, New Technologies and Role of National Mine Action Authorities in Demining Projects. Attendees got the opportunity to hear valuable presentations from 20 influential speakers from international organisations, national mine action authorities from the region (NMAA), universities, research centres and industry. The seminar allowed for a holistic discussion on mine action and provided a forum for attendees to address issues concerning every facet of mine action, as well as the challenges they face in mine action.
The first day of the seminar was composed of two sessions, which included a number of presentations offered by representatives of international and governmental organisations. The first session focused on mine action operations and overviews and included presentations by representatives of leading international organisations and national mine action authorities; GICHD, ITF, ANAMA, CROMAC, NCDR-Jordan. The second session focused on Mine Action in TURKEY and included a couple of presentations on History and Current Status of Mine Action in Turkey and Border Mine Clearance Projects in Turkey.
The second day was composed of a panel discussion on Mine Action Contracting and one session about international experiences and new technologies in Mine Action. Five panelists from each role players of mine action, NMAAS, international organisations and industry, discussed topics related to the “Mine Action Contract Management”. In the new technologies session the presentation of Mr. Vural Özbudak, researcher at TÜBİTEK BİLGEM, on Hand Held Mine Detection System (ETMTS-2), which has been also developed by TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, attracted great attention of attendees.
The Seminar definitely served to raise the awareness on Mine Action in Turkey by bringing together 80 participants from 15 countries, more than a dozen regional and international organisations and 20 high level speakers from international organisations, national mine action authorities. If such activities are supported by governmental agencies they will obviously make a greater impact. The next seminar is scheduled for May 2016, in Ankara.
Conclusion
Turkey is one of the most land mine contaminated countries in the region. Despite heavy landmine contamination in Turkey there is still not any firms in the defence sector which has UN or NATO accreditation to conduct large scale demining projects solely without a foreign partner. This was obviously seen in the tender process of SBMCP. Large size construction companies established joint ventures with foreign demining companies in order to attend the SBMCP tender. Also another important handicap is the lack of interest in mine action from universities, academic institution, NGO’s etc.
Not only in Turkey but also in neighboring regions, Balkans, Middle East and Caucasus there is important landmine and unexploded ordnance contamination. If the need of mine and EOD clearance is considered in Turkey and the region, it is clear that there will be many mine clearance and EOD clearance projects in the near future.
In today’s conditions, in addition to the humanitarian concerns developing Mine Action Capacity in Turkey in all aspects, will definitely contribute the Turkey’s economy and the defence sector.
To meet its treaty requirements regarding areas under its jurisdiction or control, Turkey should urgently overcome delays in the establishment of a National Mine Action Authority and National Mine Action Centre.
