Turkey tightens Syrian border

REYHANLI: Turkish authorities have begun taking steps to stop Syrian refugees and rebels coming and going freely across the border with the conflict-torn country.

"Police have come knocking on our door," said Hassan, an illegal Syrian immigrant in the border town of Reyhanli, where he lives with about 20 fighters "on leave", wounded people and refugees.

All of them, living on what he calls "apartment rest", have crossed the border illegally, mostly at night, through a hole in the fence.

Their presence in Reyhanli in Hatay province along with hundreds of other illegal Syrians was until recently tolerated by the authorities, which took a rather benevolent attitude towards the rebels and refugees.

But things are changing.

"Police gave us 24 hours to leave," said Hassan. "Those who don't have a visa, papers that are in order, must go to the refugee camps. Or else go back to Syria," said Hassan, who did not give his full name.

Others, who have a valid residence permit, must leave Hatay province and live elsewhere in the country, he added.

Turkey is officially hosting more than 80,000 refugees in a dozen camps concentrated in the Hatay border province.

There are also thousands of illegal Syrians immigrants, the majority Sunni Muslims, who have been living rough for months.

This steady stream has provoked growing concern among the local population, and at times there are tensions, in particular in the cosmopolitan provincial capital of Antakya where many people are Alawites.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is also from Syria's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

For the past three weeks the Turkish army has stepped up its patrols along the border, which Syrians had previously been able to cross on a daily basis.