Turkey reopens border crossing with Syria after 12 years

ISTANBUL - Turkey reopened one of its border crossings with Syria to civilian travel on Tuesday after a 12-year closure, state media reported on Tuesday, in another sign of improving ties between Ankara and Damascus.

Passport holders can now cross through the Akcakale gate in Turkey’s south-eastern province of Sanlıurfa, the state news agency Anadolu wrote. The crossing was closed to civilian traffic in 2014 due to the civil war in Syria and had since been used only for humanitarian aid deliveries, Anadolu quoted Akcakale Mayor Abdülhakim Ayhan of the ruling AK Party as saying. Akcakale also had served as a launch point for Turkey’s 2019 military operation against Kurdish militias in northern Syria. Across the border lies the Syrian town of Tal-Abyad, currently administered by Syria’s transitional government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Relations between Turkey and Syria had been deeply strained since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. The following year Ankara broke off diplomatic relations with the Syrian government.

Since the overthrow of former Syrian president Bashar Assad in late 2024 by forces led by President al-Sharaa, relations between Ankara and Damascus have improved. Turkey reopened its embassy in Damascus. 

Economically, the two countries have again seen closer contacts since the change of power in Syria. According to Anadolu, Turkish exports to Syria amounted to more than $2.5 billion in 2025.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 10:04 PM.