Security forces hold, rescue nearly 1,000 migrants in country’s west

İZMİR/MUĞLA

The Turkish security forces have held some 851 irregular migrants in the country’s western provinces and rescued 140 asylum seekers in the Aegean sea after an illegal pushback by Greece amid the ongoing migrant crisis resulting from the instability in different countries in the region, mainly in Afghanistan and Yemen, security sources have said.

At least 827 illegal migrants attempting to illegally exit Turkey in the country’s Aegean province of İzmir’s Seferihisar, Çeşme and Dikili districts were apprehended by security forces following a tip-off.

Migrants mostly from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Yemen and Bangladesh, who were caught in three separate boats, referred to the provincial migration directorate.

Another group of 24 irregular migrants was also apprehended by coast guard teams off the coast of Bodrum in the Aegean province of Muğla. Six people believed to have organized the illegal crossings were detained.

In two separate incidents, the Coast Guard units rescued some 96 asylum seekers who were illegally pushed back by Greece off the coast of the southwestern province of Muğla’s Bodrum and Datça districts.

In İzmir, a rubber boat drifting off the coast of Dikili with 44 asylum seekers was rescued by Coast Guard units.