The Turkish coast guard on Thursday rescued 33 irregular migrants off western Izmir while also detaining another 50 trying to cross over to Europe.
According to a statement by the Coast Guard Command, teams were dispatched upon receiving information that a group of irregular migrants was traveling on a dinghy off Karaburun.
Thirty-three migrants, eight of whom are children, were pushed back by Greece into Turkish waters.
Off the Çeşme district, on the other hand, a dinghy with 27 irregular migrants was also halted.
In Çeşme, teams were dispatched to the area after the coast guard's mobile radar detected a group of irregular migrants on land.
The Coast Guard Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Team, the Coast Guard Law Enforcement Support Team, and teams from the Çeşme District Gendarmerie Command apprehended 23 irregular migrants.
Following processing, the irregular migrants were sent to the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Every year, hundreds of thousands of migrants flee civil conflict or economic hardship in their home countries with the hope of reaching Europe.
Some migrants make the dangerous journey over land or sea with the assistance of smugglers, who often abandon them, especially during sea journeys, after receiving thousands of dollars from each migrant. Others are stopped by Turkish security forces before crossing the border into Europe.
In some cases, neighboring Greece is accused of pushing back migrants in a controversial practice. In the Aegean Sea, Greek coast guard boats often drive out to avert migrant boats approaching Greek islands.
"Pushback” is a controversial and illegal practice, but Greece has repeatedly engaged in it, according to reports by human rights organizations monitoring migrant flows into Greece, which have escalated in the past decade.
Greece denies that it violates human rights or that it forcefully returns asylum-seekers from its shores.