Since 22 customs officials in two eastern provinces were allegedly kidnapped by the  Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in August, the Üzümlü and Kapıköy border gates have been kept closed, dealing a huge blow to economic activity in the region, trade unions have complained.

Ten customs officers working at the Üzümlü border gate with Iraq in the province of Hakkari went missing on their way to work on Aug. 10. Less than half a month after the incident, another 11 customs officers working at the Kapıköy border gate with Iran in the province of Van and a driver disappeared as they were returning home on Aug. 21. While the driver and one of the officers from the Kapıköy border gate were released on Aug. 23, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) said that same day the officials in the last incident were kidnapped by the PKK, though to date no official announcement has been made for the others who were also suspected to have been captured by the PKK.

The two border gates, however, have remained closed, prohibiting truck transportation and tourist entries between Turkey and its eastern neighbors.

In an interview with Today’s Zaman, Necdet Takva, the president of the Van Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VANTSO), said the closure of the border gates have had a negative impact on both the region’s economy and tourism.

The average annual trade volume by Turkish companies through the Kapıköy gate accounts for $100 million, Takva maintained, adding that exports from this gate alone contracted by 30 percent in the recent period compared to a year ago.

Saim Alpaslan, the chairman of the Ağrı Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ATSO), said the main sources of revenue in the provinces of Van, Ağrı and Hakkari are border trade, agriculture and animal husbandry and that the closed borders have resulted in big problems for the above industries.

“The gates should immediately be reopened. People felt safer during the resettlement process, and investments, though small, were coming to the region. But now residents are jumpy and businessmen have suspended their investments. This is a very serious problem, and if it persists residents are likely to be forced to leave for better prospects elsewhere,” Alpaslan said.

Introduced at the end of October 2012, the settlement process was an initiative by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) aimed at settling the country’s long-standing Kurdish problem in which Kurds’ cultural and political rights are not recognized by the state as being equal to other ethnic elements of society.

After the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) garnered enough votes to pass the election threshold in the June 7 poll, causing the AK Party to lose its 13-year-long parliamentary majority, the TSK and the PKK resumed their attacks on each other, claiming scores of citizens’ lives, with some being kidnapped on several occasions.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Servet Taş, the president of the Hakkari Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HATSO), said: “Everybody was happy with the [calm] environment. But the settlement process has come to a halt, and we have suffered a lot. We hope a new conflict-free period will start soon.”