Yerlikaya meets Hungarian counterpart in Budapest

ANKARA

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has convened with his Hungarian counterpart, Sandor Pinter, in Budapest, where the discourse on countering irregular migration was featured prominently.

"We conducted our inter-delegation meeting in Hungary for the seventh Budapest Process Ministerial Conference with Minister Pinter," Yerlikaya remarked in a written statement on X.

The dialogue encompassed "a review of collaborative undertakings between the two ministries, primarily concerning security and the struggle against irregular migration,” it said.

As a key transit nation along major migratory routes, Türkiye hosts millions of migrants and engages in cooperative efforts with numerous countries to address the problem of irregular migration.

Recently, a senior Greek migration official said that Athens plans to ask neighboring Türkiye to crack down harder and deepen their cooperation on gangs trafficking would-be asylum seekers.

"We are not doing enough about migrant smugglers. We are raising the issue with our European peers and our Turkish neighbors," the Greek official told AFP speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The cooperation which we intend to intensify with Türkiye will focus on the war against smuggling networks," the source added.

Last month, Turkish media outlets broadcast footage purportedly showing Greek Coast Guard vessels chasing inflatable dinghies, suspected to be carrying illegal migrants, as far as off the coast of Muğla, on Türkiye’s Mediterranean shoreline.

In a phone conversation with Greece’s Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Minister Christos Stylianides on Sept. 23, Yerlikaya underscored that such breaches are intolerable if the two nations are to preserve amicable neighborly relations.

Recently, Ankara and Baghdad also signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at facilitating the voluntary return of Iraqi citizens from Türkiye.