Mine clearing starts in foothills of Mount Ararat

Efforts to clear mines have been launched on Mount Ararat in the eastern province of Iğdır as part of a project financed by the European Union and Turkey in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

The project aims to clear Turkey's eastern border of mines to increase Ankara's ability to control the border and provide socio-economic development. As part of the project, mines along the borders with Armenia, Iran and Azerbaijan will be cleared within two years. 

Third Army Cmdr. Gen. İsmail Serdar Savaş and Ninth Corps Cmdr. Major Gen. Mehmet Özoğlu attended a ceremony to begin the project, as well as mark International Mine Awareness Day, at the Subaşı border police post in Iğdır's Aralık district alongside officials and local administrators from the Defense Ministry and the U.N.
Officials made examinations in a tent established for the event and were also shown mine-clearing techniques with trained dogs and scanners. 

South African firm DENEL-MECHEM will conduct the mine-clearing works as part of the project. Company officials said a total of 15 square kilometers will be cleared of 222,000 mines in 511 areas near the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Iranian borders within two years. 

The locations of mines will initially be determined by scanners and dogs before clearing works will begin. The disposal of the mines discovered will be conducted with armored vehicles. 

Speaking at the ceremony, the head of the EU delegation in Ankara, Ambassador Christian Berger, said hundreds of innocent people, including children, die each year after stepping on mines. Berger also said land mines produce serious societal and financial effects and prevent development, as well as killing individuals. 

"This...