As part of its intensifying response to ongoing challenges of irregular migration, Turkish security forces on Wednesday detained over 800 irregular migrants and busted a migrant smuggling ring in nationwide raids.
In a four-day operation dubbed “Shield-17,” Turkish police and gendarmerie forces captured some 881 irregular migrants, as well as some 44 smugglers across six provinces, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said via X, formerly Twitter.
Authorities arrested 15 of the smugglers and placed 11 under judicial control while the others are still being processed.
Among the irregular migrants caught in Kırıkkale, Çanakkale, Izmir, Muğla and Van provinces, police captured four suspected members of the PKK terror group and two suspected members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Police also seized unlicensed guns, an AK-47 rifle, 24 vehicles, a speedboat, a large amount of Turkish liras, foreign currency and dozens of digital materials, Yerlikaya said.
The irregular migrants were taken to the provincial migration authorities who will oversee their deportation to their home countries.
“Türkiye will never allow human traffickers who try to make it a transit route for irregular migration by smuggling people,” Yerlikaya said.
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 are able to 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 approaching migrant boats to the Greek islands.
In the northwestern province of Edirne, several cases of similar “pushbacks” were documented in the past years. In some cases, migrants were found naked and bruised after what they claimed were from beatings at the hands of Greek border officials who stripped them and forced migrants to march back to the Turkish side.
The latest statistics, between 2010 and 2023, show Türkiye rescued 184,175 irregular migrants from its seas after they put their lives in danger with the hope of reaching Europe. Some 923 migrants, on the other hand, ended up dead on perilous journeys in the same period, while 503 people remain unaccounted for after their boats sank.
Last year alone, 20 people died while traveling to nearby Greek islands from the Turkish coast. Eleven went missing as they strived to reach the islands in the Aegean Sea, while the Turkish Coast Guard Command saved 23,977 irregular migrants from certain death.
In 2023, authorities intercepted 254,000 irregular migrants and arrested 3,744 migrant smuggling organizers.
Türkiye, which already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any other country in the world, is taking new measures at its borders to prevent a fresh influx of migrants, balancing a humanitarian policy and the need to stop thousands from risking their lives.
As most irregular migrants try to infiltrate Türkiye through its eastern borders, the country recently began constructing a security wall. Authorities say 80% of the wall and a 1,234-kilometer (767-mile) patrolling strip next to the wall are completed, with the remaining section set to be completed within the year.
The Directorate of Migration set up “mobile migration points” to speed up the processing of irregular migrants. The migration points, the first of its kind in the world, help law enforcement in the field to check for irregular migrants.
