Many Iranians are fleeing the war in their home country and are crossing the border into Turkiye as the United States and Israeli strikes on Iran have so far killed more than 500 people, according to reports.
Reuters has reported that these people fleeing the war have spoken of widespread fear, panic, and long queues at petrol stations. The border between Iran and Turkiye is manned by at least three gates. Turkiye had said on Sunday that day-trip passengers crossing the Turkish-Iranian border through these gates had been mutually suspended.
Istanbul was only allowing its own citizens and third-country nationals to enter. Eyewitnesses told Reuters on Sunday that Iranian nationals were being stopped from crossing over into Turkiye.
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By Monday afternoon, however, Iranians started crossing over into Turkiye at one of the gates, the Kapikoy border gate. Iranian nationals, fleeing the war, spoke to Reuters and said that "the situation in Tehran was already difficult". "There are difficult things in Tehran, bombings. Everyone is scared. But, for example, normal people, nothing happened to them."
The person quoted by Reuters has said that shops are overcrowded in Tehran. Another Iranian, an Azeri from the Qazvin area near the Turkish border, told Reuters that life was continuing normally, but there was constant bombing in the military areas that affected people's lives. "People have withdrawn to themselves, everyone is in their homes," the man said, "There were sounds of bombing coming from nearby areas that were hit."
Reuters reported that people from different areas were wheeling their suitcases amid snow towards the border gate and were ready to enter the Turkish territory. "There are no food problems or anything like that. The only concern people have is getting fuel for their trips, near and far," the Azeri man told Reuters.
Earlier, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said Iran was permitting its own citizens to enter Iran via Turkiye, adding that commercial cargo transits at all three gates continued under controlled conditions. "All our units continue to perform their duties on high alert to ensure the uninterrupted continuation of Turkiye's border crossing services and trade flows," Bolat said.
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