The tension with Syria seems to have cost Gaziantep, a booming province on the Syrian border, a lot.
Not so much maybe in the way of exports, but as far as daily commerce in shopping is concerned the loss is big. Aleppo, which has a population of 5 million, is only 130 kilometers from Gaziantep, and its residents used to come in large numbers -- 50,000-60,000 people a month by some estimates -- to Gaziantep for shopping. Some would even spend the night. “These were unregistered exports, Kürşat Göncü, general secretary of the Gaziantep Chamber of Industry, has told Today’s Zaman and noted that Aleppo was important market for Gaziantep. “Before the crisis, some 800 vehicles were passing through the border gate daily,” Göncü said. “But now the number of visitors from the southern neighbor is perhaps only one-tenth of what it used to be,” he adds...