ADANA, Turkey
Undocumented migrants from Afghanistan to Turkey have been on the rise in recent months, Turkish interior minister said on Wednesday.
“We have been facing in recent months a wave of migrants, especially from Afghanistan,” Suleyman Soylu said during his address to immigration officials in southern Adana province.
“Among the illegal migrants in 2018, [a total of] 29,899 people are of Afghan origin. The total number of illegal Afghan migrants in 2017 was 45,259 people,” Soylu added.
The interior minister said Turkey arrested 4,641 migrant smugglers in 2017 while this figure was at 1,328 at the first four months of this year.
Turkey currently hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world. It has been the main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.
Soylu also said a number of measures, including enhanced border security as well as repatriation capacity will be taken to control irregular migration.
Turkey plans to increase the capacity of its repatriation centers to 15,000 from 8,276, Soylu said.
He also mentioned a 2016-EU-Turkey readmission agreement deal in which Ankara is supposed to readmit all irregular asylum-seekers who reach Greek islands from Turkey.
Soylu said that while in February 2016, the number of people trying to reach to Greek Islands was 2,055 per day, this figure dropped to 131 in April 2016 just after the deal was struck.
In the following months, the figure stayed at 55-122 refugees per day, Soylu added.
“At the moment, the yearly average is 66,” he said.
