Iranians use Turkey border to access internet during blackouts

A border crossing with Iran in Turkey’s eastern province of Van has not seen a major influx of Iranians seeking asylum from the unrest in their country, but many have been making short jaunts across the border to get around communications blackouts.

Internet service has largely been blocked in Iran since Jan.8 during mass protests and a violent government crackdown, although on Saturday witnesses said text messaging and very limited internet services began functioning again briefly in parts of Iran.

While the protests have largely subsided and an uneasy calm has settled over much of Iran, the ongoing communications blackouts have created difficulties, particularly for those who rely on the internet for work.

Iranians enter Turkey without visas, so for those living in the north of the country or with the means to travel from areas farther afield, brief trips across the border have been a workaround.

People, mostly Iranians, wait after crossing Kapikoy border post between Turkey and Iran, in Kapikoy, Turkey, on Saturday. AP

Some said they funded their trips by selling goods like cigarettes and tea that are cheap in Iran and fetch a higher price in Turkey.

Sami Ranjbar from Tehran, who was crossing from Turkey back into Iran on Friday, said he works in e-commerce and had stayed in Van for four days to catch up on business.

"My work depends on the internet, so I am forced to come here to access it and do my work, and then return to Iran to see how conditions develop,” he said. "If the internet is restored, we will stay, if not, we will be forced to come out again to use the internet, and go to neighboring countries or elsewhere."

Ali, 37, who spoke on condition of not being identified by his full name out of security concerns, was headed back to Tehran on Saturday after staying in Turkey for four days. He said he came with his brother, who needed to use the internet for university applications.

"A lot of our friends are arrested in Iran, and some of them have been killed,” he said. "But we have to go back to Iran because we have our family there and we have jobs there.”

The crackdown on protests that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy has left at least 3,095 people dead, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Ali said he had complicated feelings about the situation in his country, supporting neither the current authorities nor any of the alternatives on offer.

"We are under a dictatorship, but we are also in danger of war from Israel and other countries,” he said. "I’m not OK with being attacked by other countries, but I’m not OK at all with my government.”

Residents of the area of northeastern Iran near the border crossing said life returned largely to business as usual following little unrest. The area is conservative, with a large population of ethnic Turks and Azeris.

Many Iranian travellers coming from the north said they see the protests in Tehran and other areas as having little to do with them, and some echoed the Iranian government allegations that the unrest was seeded by the U.S. and Israel.

"It’s true that people are struggling financially. But that is because of the things America and Israel are doing,” said Milad Soleimani, 28, who came from the Iranian town of Qatur, 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the border gate, for a day’s shopping, speaking in Turkish. "The majority supports their state. It doesn’t matter if you have 2 million Pahlavi supporters in a nation of 94 million.”

Iranian Turks and Azeris are largely averse to exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has been hoping to stage a return and has urged protesters into the streets. Ethnic minorities were repressed under Pahlavi’s father, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ushered in the current Islamic Republic. Many Iranians from the north said they preferred the stability under the current regime over unrest and ambiguity.

"Iran is stable, that’s what is good about it,” said Afshin, 24, a Turkish-speaking Kurdish traveler from the northeastern Iranian city of Khoy, who gave only his first name out of security concerns. "If there is a civil war, the country will split into 80 pieces.”

Associated Press