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| The Grand Turk | |
| Iran closes key crossing with Turkey | |
| 2015-08-13 | |
| [Hurriyet Daily News] Iran says it has closed its biggest ground crossing with ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... in the wake of a series of violent attacks on Iranian vehicles. "The Gurbulak-Bazargan crossing has been unilaterally closed in the direction from Iran to Turkey," Iranian Road and Urban Planning Deputy Minister Davud Kesaverziyan said in a written statement on Aug 12, citing an attack on an Iranian truck in Turkish territories. Kesaverziyan said the closing was decided upon Turkey's request and the door was still open from Turkey to Iran. Kesaverziyan has met with Turkish Ambassador to Iran Riza Hakan Tekin on a series of recent violent attacks on Iranian vehicles, he added.
Iran denied claims it had closed its main border crossing into "All the country's land borders... including the one in Bazargan, are open and traffic is passing through," interior ministry Director General Majid Agha-Babaie said. "None of the border (crossings) are closed and none will be," he added in remarks carried by state news agency IRNA. Earlier, road traffic organization chief Davoud Keshavarzian was quoted as saying the crossing at Bazargan in the northwest had been closed to traffic into He said that came following a new attack Tuesday evening on an Iranian truck in Turkey. Another official quoted by IRNA said Turkish vehicles were crossing the border headed home, but that Iranian drivers were refusing to enter Turkey. Keshavarzian did not say who carried out the attack or what the motive was, but there has been growing unrest in Turkey in recent weeks involving Kurdish separatists. He said the driver of the torched truck was not killed, adding that he had spoken to the Turkish ambassador and asked that "the Turkish government ensure the safety of Iranian drivers in Turkey as Iran does for Turkish drivers." | |
| Posted by:Fred |