SMUGGLING RUNS DEEP IN BLOOD OF EASTERN TURKEY
By Delphine Strauss in Ankara
FT
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5e2920b0-d230-11df-8fbe-00144feabdc0.html
October 7 2010 17:48
"Smuggled tea" advertises a rooftop sign in Van, the main city of
Turkey's eastern region bordering Iran. In a bazaar tucked behind
a central shopping street, a carpet dealer has stacked pale silk
Persian rugs beside the deeper coloured local kilims.
The minibuses shuttling along the nearby shore of Lake Van run on
bootleg Iranian fuel, bought at back doors or behind petrol stations.
And in a dusty street on the outskirts, a huddle of Afghan and Iranian
refugees who have slipped past the border guards wait for legal advice
on their asylum claims outside the gate of the local UNHCR refugee
agency office.
Poverty, unemployment and a punitive customs regime have made smuggling
a way of life in the villages lining Turkey's long, porous border with
Iran. From carpets to car parts, drug trafficking to human trafficking,
illegal trade is thriving, served by Kurdish villagers taking convoys
of horses over the mountainous boundary by night.
"If there was no illegal border trade, this whole area would have died
out," said one carpet dealer, who made three business trips to Tabriz
in September and paid smugglers $10 per carpet to carry his wares
back. The border trade that fuels the local economy has also fuelled
decades of conflict with Kurdish rebels seeking regional autonomy.
Although attacks on security forces are now rare in Van province,
locals say the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK), listed by the US and
European Union as a terrorist group, funds itself partly by taxing
the smugglers.
This is the region that could benefit most if Turkey's government
reaches its goal of trebling legal trade with Iran, from about $10bn
in 2008 to a targeted $30bn five years from now. Although Ankara is
committed to honouring UN sanctions against Iran, it opposes them in
principle, and will not adopt unilateral US or EU measures.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish prime minister, has defied Washington
by cultivating warmer ties with Tehran, and told a recent bilateral
summit he saw no reason why Turkey's trade arrangements with Iran
should not parallel those it had with Europe. But although some Turkish
companies are keen to win new business in Iran as it loses partners
elsewhere, the main Istanbul-based groups - including several with
US shareholders - are unlikely to risk losing access to their much
bigger western markets.
Border history
16th-mid 19th century The Persian and Ottoman empires clash at regular
intervals over borders and Islamic doctrine
1926 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, signs a
"friendship" treaty that defines relations between the two until
the Iranian revolution 1964 Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan sign a treaty
aimed at fostering economic exchanges and development
1979 The Iranian Revolution and the reversal of Iran's foreign policy
towards pro-western powers sparks tensions with secular Turkey 1985
Economic Co-operation Organisation founded. It aims to promote economic
co-operation among 10 regional states
2003 Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chairman of the Islamic Justice and
Development party, becomes Turkish premier
2009 Mr Erdogan defends Iran's right to a civilian nuclear programme
and opposes sanctions June 2010Turkey votes against UN sanctions
despite international pressure - but commits to implementing them
Sept Mr Erdogan and Mohammed Reza Rahimi, Iranian first vice-president,
sign an agreement over border control and economic exchanges aimed
at fostering more trade
Iranian gas exports to Turkey account for the bulk of bilateral trade,
and Turkey had a share of only $2bn of Iran's $68.5bn of imports
in 2008.
"Sanctions are good for no one . . . but we're not going to do trade
under the table," said Murat Yalcintas, president of Istanbul's chamber
of commerce. "You're not even sure if you're going to get your money
or not, no one is going to take these risks."
Zahir Kandasoglu, his counterpart at Van's chamber of trade and
industry, said he hoped Turkey's opposition to sanctions would finally
persuade Tehran to ease barriers to trade, by opening a new border
gate near Van and setting up a free-trade zone. "I don't trust them
- they've been talking for years . . . But maybe for other reasons,
because of sanctions, they will change their view," he said. Van's
prospects are already brightening, thanks to heavy public sector
investment and hopes of an end to PKK violence. Bulent Karakas, an
economist at the city's university, says the opening of a Migros
supermarket a couple of years ago was a landmark, proving that a
national chain could invest without security risks, and that families
finally felt secure enough to go out shopping in the evenings. "Now,
when a new shopping centre opens, we don't even notice," he added.
Mr Kandasoglu's own construction business is benefiting from government
projects to build new hospitals, schools, roads and dams.
But the regional economy remains dependent on the public sector. Only
an end to PKK violence and open borders to eastern markets are likely
to bring big private sector investments.
So just as other cities in Turkey's south-east have gained from freer
trade with northern Iraq and Syria, Mr Kandasoglu is lobbying for
new openings to Iran and nearby Armenia. He also wants Van to be the
site for a planned Turkish-Iranian free-trade zone that could include
textiles, machinery and petroleum.
"At the moment Van is 76th [of 81 provinces] in terms of development.
Almost all the eastern cities are at the same level. In all these
eastern cities, if we don't trade with Iran, Iraq, Armenia, who will
we trade with?" Mr Kandasoglu said.
In the 1990s, a time of freer trade with Iran, Van prospered to become
the 10th highest taxpaying province in the country, an official at
the chamber of commerce notes. "When people make good money legally
they direct it into investment and taxes."
But at present, the legal border trade is confined to pitifully
small quantities of textiles, for example, or seasonal produce such
as kiwis or watermelon. Tougher border checks, with vehicles allowed
to make only one trip across the border per day, have also damped the
once-roaring trade in contraband fuel: smugglers who invested in trucks
with extra large fuel tanks can no longer afford to pay off the loans.
But the shiny jeeps in Van's streets, and the construction sites
across the city, attest to the continued trafficking of drugs and
migrants through the mountains.
"Eighteen of my family are in jail," said a man from Van's Baskale
district, who thought the government was "punishing this region" for
voting for pro-Kurdish politicians by clamping down. But with migrants
willing to pay $250 for help across the border, and a single kilo of
heroin fetching $5,000 profit, the appeal of smuggling remains. "In one
day you can be a billionaire - or you can lose everything," he said.
From: A. Papazian