23 March 2018•Update: 23 March 2018
ERZURUM, Turkey
The number of undocumented migrants held during the first 75 days of 2018 has reached 7,000 in eastern Erzurum province, indicating a sharp increase compared with 2017 when the figure for the whole year was 5,000, according to a provincial authority.
The Erzurum Migration Management General Directorate said many foreign nationals enter Turkey from the border with Iran due to diverse problems in their own countries and then they try to go to different cities of Turkey in hopes of escaping to European countries.
The migrants are often left on roads of cities of eastern Anatolia by migrant smugglers instead of being taken to places they had been promised to; they often get cheated and deceived by smugglers who lie to them by saying their chosen destination was nearby. It is then they get held by security forces.
Due to the increased number of undocumented migrants being held, the Askale district's repatriation center is extremely busy.
The migrants there first get treated at the repatriation center and later they are deported.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Erzurum Governor Seyfettin Azizoglu said there had been a great increase in the number of undocumented migrants being brought to Askale repatriation center in 2018.
"This is well above the manageable number," Azizoglu said.
He added the issue of peoples’ smuggling needs to be treated as a security problem of the region and Turkey, and measures should be taken in accordance with that reality.
Reporting by Fahrettin Gok:Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet
