Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Wednesday that 309 irregular migrants were intercepted in Izmir, Türkiye’s third largest city. "We are tracking down irregular migrants and migrant smugglers, we will not give them respite," Yerlikaya said in a social media post.
"Operation Shield" against irregular migrants took place across the western city, particularly in the Basmane district. Basmane, located in the old quarters of Izmir, has been home to migrants both from around Türkiye and from around the world. After the war broke out in neighboring Syria, Syrian refugees found shelter in the district. Izmir is also a gateway for many irregular migrants seeking to reach the Greek islands, lying a few nautical miles from the westernmost coast of the Aegean city.
Yerlikaya said the Izmir Governorate coordinated operations by local police and the migration authority and some 1,257 personnel joined inspections to find irregular migrants. Officials checked neighborhoods with high concentrations of foreign nationals, abandoned buildings, parks and hotels. Five "mobile migration points" were set up during operations.
Türkiye copes with the irregular migration phenomenon as crises across the world once again put it at the forefront of migrant influx as a gateway to Europe. Balancing a humanitarian policy and the need to stop thousands from risking their lives, Türkiye heightened measures against irregular migration.
Authorities intercepted more than 105,000 irregular migrants between June 1 and Sept. 29.
The Directorate of Migration set up what it called "mobile migration points" to speed up the processing of irregular migrants. The migration points help law enforcement in the field to check for irregular migrants. They use a fingerprint database to check the identity of suspected irregular migrants and cut the red tape for legal migrants who have to prove that they have permits, often by visiting police stations. Mobile points will be available in the entire country in December.
Pushback plight
Türkiye, meanwhile, extends a helping hand to irregular migrants endangering their lives as they try to reach Greece. On Wednesday, the Coast Guard Command rescued 77 irregular migrants off the coast of Ayvacık, a district of the western province of Çanakkale. The migrants, all Afghan nationals, were traveling aboard rubber boats when Greek authorities pushed their boats back to Turkish waters in a controversial practice.
Off the coast of Dikili in Izmir, the coast guard discovered another rubber boat pushed back by Greece. Aboard the boat were 28 irregular migrants, including children. The migrants, who were shaken amid cold weather and high waves, were taken to the Turkish coast guard boat. Coast guard officers handed water, food and blankets to the migrants.
Civan Halil, one of the rescued migrants, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they were heading to the Greek island of Lesbos when Greek officials stopped them. "We had a can of gasoline aboard (for the boat’s engine) and they took it. They shouted at us and then left. The Turkish coast guard came 10 minutes later. We are grateful to them," he said.
As the European Union grapples with an influx of irregular migrants amid aggravated conflicts and hardships in source countries, Greece often resorts to pushback practices, which are against international laws.
Ankara and global rights groups have frequently condemned it as a violation of humanitarian values for endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, while Athens denies all allegations.
Accounts of migrants intercepted by Turkish authorities, whether in the Aegean Sea or across the land border between Türkiye and Greece, show that Greek security forces often beat them and sometimes try to sink their rubber boats.