Turkey intercepts 115 migrants en route to Greece

IZMIR, Turkey

A total of 115 migrants were intercepted by Turkish police Wednesday en route to Greek islands, according to police.

Fifty-five migrants trying to cross to Greece from a Turkish Aegean city were taken ashore early Wednesday, said a police statement.

According to police in the resort town of Cesme, west of the provincial capital Izmir, Coast Guard patrols offshore spotted a group of people inside an inflatable boat.

An Iranian, three Palestinians, and 51 Syrians, including women and children, in the boat were brought to Cesme harbor by the Coast Guard.

The migrants, many ill due to the bad weather, were taken to tents near the harbor for treatment, where some of the children who fell sick were taken to hospital for checkups.

In a separate incident, 60 migrants were apprehended in Izmir Wednesday aiming to reach Chios, a Greek island.

The migrants were apprehended at a police checkpoint in Cesme, the Cesme police said.

Sixty migrants – including 20 children, Syrians, Eritreans and Iraqis – were taken by local police.

The police said that after processing, the migrants will be taken to Izmir’s Migration Management Directorate.

Separately on Tuesday Turkish gendarmes apprehended 116 foreigners suspected of getting ready to illegally migrate from Izmir.

Of the 4,715 migrants and refugees who lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean, 429 migrants died in the Eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece, according to the latest report.

Over 351,000 migrants or refugees have crossed into Greece and Italy since the beginning of 2016 compared with 883,393 by this time in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Some 4,223 people died in the Central Mediterranean route linking North Africa and Italy, while 63 others perished in the Western Mediterranean route linking West Africa to Spain, the report said.

More than a million refugees and migrants traveled from Turkey to Greece last year before an EU-Turkey deal stemmed the flow in March.

The March 18 agreement allows for the return of “irregular migrants” to Turkey from Greece in exchange for Syrian refugees to be relocated within the EU.

Reporting by Denizhan Guzel; Writing by Didar Yüsra Dilruba Öz;