More than 570 undocumented migrants held in Turkey

By Sibel Ugurlu

ANKARA

A total of 579 undocumented migrants were held across Turkey on Friday, according to police and gendarmerie sources.

Out of the total, 234 migrants were rounded up in Dikili and Menderes districts of western Izmir province.

The Gendarme forces held 35 Syrians and one Afghan national in an old hut in Dikili district.

Later, security forces held 36 more migrants, including Syrians, during a road check.

In Menderes district of Izmir, 32 Syrians and South Africans were arrested after they were stopped by gendarme forces.

In another neighborhood of Menderes, 25 Syrians were found abandoned in a minibus.

Moreover, 49 migrants, including women and children, were held after coast guard units stopped a dinghy en route to the Greek islands in Menderes. There were six Syrians, 33 Angolans, seven Togolese and three Senegalese in the boat.

Also, the coast guards caught 56 Syrian nationals in a dinghy en route to the Greek islands.

In another operation in Saztepe village of eastern Erzincan province, security forces held a total of 99 undocumented migrants from a bus. The migrants, which where mainly Afghan nationals, included 13 children and 3 women.

The bus driver and two organizers were also arrested.

In northeastern Artvin province, security forces held 46 undocumented migrants including three children and three women. Thirty-seven of them were Afghan, seven Pakistani and two Bangladeshi nationals -- who entered Turkey from Iran using illegal means.

The undocumented migrants wanted to go to Istanbul and Ankara but were held at the Artvin bus station.

The migrants were later transferred to the migration management authorities.

Separately in the northwestern province of Edirne, two undocumented migrants were held.

In another operation in the northwestern Edirne province, 198 undocumented migrants were held during an operation in Bosnakoy, Meric, Ipsala and Lalapasa districts.

The migrants, who were transferred to the migration management authorities, included Palestinians, Moroccans, Syrians, Algerians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

In the last 10 years, Edirne has seen a rise in migrants from Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Morocco, Iran and Iraq.

In 2017 alone, 50,000 migrants and refugees from 50 different countries have been held by Turkish security units.

There has been a 60 percent increase in migrant flow since 2016. The number was 31,000 in 2016.

* Necat Hazar from Erzincan, Yusuf Okur from Artvin, Salih Baran and Cihan Demirci from Edirne, Safak Yel from Izmir and Meryem Goktas from Ankara contributed to the story.