Syria–Turkey border

Syria–Turkey border الحدود السورية التركية Suriye–Türkiye sınırı
Characteristics
Entities	Syria Turkey
Length	911 km (566 mi)[1]
Enclave and exclaves	None
History
Established	1921 Treaty of Ankara (1921)
Current shape	1923 Treaty of Lausanne
Treaties	Treaty of Ankara (1921), Treaty of Lausanne, Franco-Turkish Agreement of 1939

The border between the

Since Turkey's 1939 appropriation of the

The border runs north and east, following the Orontes River for a part of its course, where in 2011 construction of a Syria–Turkey Friendship Dam began (but was delayed by the Syrian Civil War),^[4] and east to the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing on the İskenderun–Aleppo road, then further north to the border between Hatay and Gaziantep Province, where it turns sharply east outside of Meidan Ekbis (Afrin District), at 36°49′48″N 36°39′54″E / 36.830°N 36.665°E / 36.830; 36.665.

With the exception of Hatay province, the Turkish side of the border is entirely within the

On the Turkish side, the European route E90 runs alongside the length of the border, crossing the Euphrates at Birecik and the Tigris at Cizre. For the final 30 km the border follows the course of the Tigris, turning towards the south-east, until it reaches the Iraq-Syria-Turkey tripoint at 37°06′22″N 42°21′18″E / 37.106°N 42.355°E / 37.106; 42.355.

At the start of the 20th century the entire border region was part of the

In 1920 Syria formally became a French mandatory territory, being initially split into a number of states, including the French-controlled Sanjak of Alexandretta (modern Hatay province).^[5] By the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres Anatolian Turkey was to be partitioned, with the Syrian-Turkish frontier placed further north than its current position.^[6] Turkish nationalists protested the treaty, contributing to the outbreak the Turkish War of Independence; the Turkish success in this conflict rendered Sèvres obsolete.^[5] A new border more favourable to Turkey was drawn by the Franco-Turkish Treaty of Ankara in 1921 after negotiations between French Prime Minister Aristide Briand and Turkish Foreign Minister Yusuf Kemal Bey.^[5][7][8] By the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne Turkey's independence was recognised and a more generous territorial settlement was agreed upon, with Turkey formally renouncing any claim to Arab lands.^[9] Following Lausanne, the Syrian-Turkish frontier was delimited more precisely between Meidan Ekbis and Nusaybin in 1926, and between Nusaybin and the tripoint with Iraq in 1929.^[5] A Final Delimitation Protocol covering the entire boundary east of Hatay was then confirmed and deposited with the League of Nations on 3 May 1930.^[5]

A special case was Turkey's Hatay province, which remained autonomous until 1923. In 1938, in the wake of the

Syria gained independence in 1944, and the frontier then became the border between two sovereign states.[5] When Turkey joined NATO (1952) and the OSCE (1973), its boundary with Syria was recognized as a border by these organisations. Syria continued to claim Hatay province as part of

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 471 Syrians civilians, including 86 children and 45 women, have been killed by the Turkish gendarmerie at the Syrian–Turkish border since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.^[18]

From west to east, as of 18 April 2023.^[19]

• 
  Map of the Syria–Turkey border
• 
  A section of the border wall built by Turkey
• 
  Map of the Tigris–Euphrates river system across the eastern part of the Syro-Turkish border
• 
  The Syrian town of Kessab, with the peak of Mount Aqra (Turkey) in the background

• Hatay dispute
• Syria–Turkey barrier
• Syria–Turkey relations
• Syrian–Turkish border clashes during the Syrian Civil War
  • Northern Syria Buffer Zone
• Syrian Turkmen
• Refugees of the Syrian Civil War