Coast guard units in Türkiye's western Muğla province rescued 118 irregular migrants after Greek authorities pushed them into Turkish territorial waters Tuesday.
Turkish Coast guard units rescued a total of 45 migrants off the coast of Marmaris on three boats, according to the Coast Guard Command.
In addition, after receiving information that there was a group of irregular migrants on two rubber boats and a lifeboat off the coast of Datça district in Muğla, teams were dispatched to the area and 73 migrants were rescued.
A human smuggler, who arranged their dangerous journey, was on one of the boats and Turkish authorities arrested him later.
All of the migrants were transferred to provincial migration offices, while security forces also detained two suspects for human smuggling.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.
Human rights groups and media outlets have frequently reported on illegal pushbacks and other human rights breaches by Greek authorities.
Ankara and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece's illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.
In his speech at the United General Assembly last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called out Greece for its "persecution" of migrants in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean.
"While we struggle to prevent other babies, like Aylan, from washing up on the shores, Greece is turning the Aegean Sea into a graveyard for refugees with its unlawful and reckless pushbacks," said Erdoğan.
Aylan Kurdi was a 3-year-old Syrian refugee whose body washed ashore on a Turkish beach in 2015, with his photo becoming the defining image of the global refugee crisis.
"The refugee crisis cannot be solved by sinking the boats of innocents who set out to seek a better future, leaving them to die, and by building walls on borders, and filling concentration camps with people," he said.
"It is high time for Europe and the United Nations to put an end to these atrocities that constitute crimes against humanity.
"We expect Greece to shun its politics of provocations and heed our calls for cooperation," Erdoğan said.
Besides its inhumane pushbacks of irregular migrants, Greece also pursues "discriminatory and oppressive policies" against the Muslim Turkish minority in Western Thrace, he added.
Türkiye hopes that Greece will stop these problematic actions and that international organizations, particularly the European Union, will stop turning a blind eye to its "inhuman and unlawful practices," Erdoğan stressed.
