MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Almost 270 kilometers of the wall on the border between Turkey and Syria have already been completed, Anadolu Agency reported on Thursday citing Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik.

The construction of the wall will be completed in the first half of 2017, Isik said when visiting the Hatay province on the border with Syria. Around 520 kilometers is left, he added noting that construction of the second part of the wall — 200 kilometers — has already been launched.

"85 kilometers (52 miles) of the border is [part of Euphrates and Tigris] rivers for which we will take different measures," the defense minister noted.

Turkey started building a wall along its 900-kilometer border with Syria back in 2014 with the aim of countering smuggling and illegal migration. According to official estimates, over three million refugees arrived in Turkey since the start of the conflict in Syria.