At least 60 irregular migrants held across Turkey

By Fecri Barlik, Erdal Turkoglu and Hakan Mehmet Sahin

SIIRT/HATAY/EDIRNE, Turkey

At least 60 irregular migrants were held across Turkey, security sources said on Monday.

Some 14 migrants were held in a bus during a regular highway patrol in eastern Siirt province.

Most of the migrants were Afghan nationals, while the other three were Pakistanis.

Separately, security forces held 38 irregular migrants, all Syrian nationals, in Altinozu district of southern Hatay province.

Turkish gendarmerie also rounded up eight irregular migrants in northwestern province of Edirne.

Turkey has been a main route for irregular migrants trying to cross to Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.

Among the migrants held in 2017 in Turkey, the majority came from Pakistan -- around 15,000 -- followed by Afghans at around 12,000. Syrians totaled about 10,000. There has been a 60 percent increase in migrant flow since 2016. The number was 31,000 in 2016.