Turkey to build migrant center in northwestern town

ÇANAKKALE – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

A repatriation center with a capacity of 400 people will be built in the Ayvacık district of the northwestern province of Çanakkale.

Ayvacık has been widely used by migrants who have attempted to cross into Europe via the Aegean Sea. The Turkish Interior Ministry’s Directorate General of Migration Management decided to build a larger repatriation center in addition to the existing one, which has a capacity of 80 people.

The construction of the center, which was tendered for 6.7 million Turkish Liras, is expected to be completed by September 2016. The modern facility will be built upon an 8,315-square-meter area over two blocks and with two floors. The project aims to offer migrants humanitarian conditions during the process of deportation.

In recent years, the Aegean region has become one of the most favored routes for migrants seeking to cross in to the EU.

Meanwhile, 1,129 migrants have been caught in the Aegean Sea while attempting to cross Europe, as part of 26 search and rescue operations, between July 31 and Aug. 3.

Under the operation “Hope in the Aegean” led by the Turkish Coast Guards Command, a total of 1,129 migrants have been captured, including 380 migrants in the Ayvacık distirct in seven incidents, 206 migrants in İzmir’s Çeşme, Seferihisar and Dikili districts in six incidents, 156 migrants in Balıkesir’s resort town of Ayvalık in three incidents, 138 migrants in Aydın’s resort town of Didim in three cases, and 249 migrants in seven other incidents. Meanwhile, two smugglers have been caught in the past four days.

The migrants were mostly Syrians, as well as people from Myanmar, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Congo, Uganda and Cambodia. Legal action has been taken for 1,129 migrants, with babies among the groups.

Coast Guards have captured 25,961 illegal migrants along with 45 migrant smugglers between January 1 and Aug. 3 this year, in 756 different search and rescue operations, reported officials.