July 31, 2017•Update: August 01, 2017
By Mustafa Yildirim and Hanife Erdinc
IZMIR/CANAKKALE, Turkey
Turkish security forces detained at least 645 foreign nationals over the past week as they tried to cross into Europe illegally from western Turkey's Izmir province.
The detentions came as part of operations targeting illegal crossings from Turkish provinces into European states by sea.
Between July 24 and 31, teams from Izmir’s regional gendarmerie command conducted over 10 operations, according to sources in the security forces.
The vast majority of those detained -- over 500 -- were Syrian nationals, while the rest included people from Afghanistan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Iraq.
Turkish security forces seized two buses, four minibuses, one inflatable boat and dozens of life vests.
Separately, Turkish Coast Guard captured on Monday 60 migrants on a boat who were trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos from Ayvacik district of the western province of Canakkale.
The migrants included nationals of Syria, Congo, Mali, Ghana, Gambia and Nigeria, a Coast Guard source said, adding they were referred to the local repatriation center.
Turkey and the EU signed a refugee deal in March 2016, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly three million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Since then, the number of refugees caught crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece has fallen by 85 percent, according to the Turkish Coast Guard.
