Around 400,000 vehicles and 4,000,000 people cross annually the border in Kapıkule that makes 35% of all the vehicle and 42% of all the passenger traffic passing through the land borders of Turkey. To meet the demand resulting from growing international crossings, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) signed an agreement with the government in August 2007 to completely overhaul the facilities on Build-Operate-Transfer basis at a cost of 132 million TRL (US$100 million in 2007) in exchange for twenty-year operation.[3][4]
The checkpoint reopened in the beginning of 2009 with thirteen passenger car and five truck gates for inbound, and seven passenger car and six truck gates for outbound traffic. High tech security equipment like smart-cardcontrolled access, closed-circuit television and X-ray truck cargo check systems are installed at the border area. Commercial services are provided by fast-food restaurants, duty-free shops, outlet stores, supermarkets and banks.[5] The group of 24 buildings, which house various service facilities, cover 15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft) on the 289,050 m2 (3,111,300 sq ft) wide checkpoint area.[3]
Incidents
On 24 May 2023, 104 followers of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light seeking asylum in Bulgaria were detained at Kapıkule and violently harassed by Turkish authorities.[6][7][8]
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