Irregular migrants hosted at removal center in Ankara

Mert Gökhan Koç - ANKARA

Irregular migrants apprehended by law enforcement officers are being hosted at the removal center in Ankara’s Akyurt district after a detailed security and body search until they are deported.

Valuable items on the immigrants, whose fingerprints are taken and registered in the system, are recorded and kept in steel safes.

Interviewed in detail to determine whether they have a travel document and their nationality, immigrants are also provided with clothing if needed.

Immigrants, whose procedures are completed, are taken to the rooms where they will stay until they are deported. The center also includes a TV room, library and areas where activities such as painting can be done.

Türkiye has deported 109,816 irregular migrants since the beginning of the year, as the number of deportations increased by 152 percent compared to the same period of 2021.

The figures increased by 212 percent for Afghani migrants, 32 percent for Pakistanis and 190 percent for migrants of other nationalities.

The number of illegal migrants deported since 2016 reached 427,000. While the deportation success rate is around 10 percent in Europe, this figure reached 69 percent in Türkiye.

A total of more than 60,000 Afghan citizens were returned to their country this year, including more than 40,000 with charter flights and nearly 16,000 with scheduled flights.

In addition, a total of 11,195 Pakistanis were deported via two charter flights and scheduled flights.

Türkiye has become one of the key transit points for migrants looking to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

Between January and Sept. 15, more than 200,000 irregular migrants have been caught in Türkiye. In the whole of 2021, this figure was 163,000, down from the previous year’s 455,000.