Türkiye deported a total of 124,441 irregular migrants and facilitated the voluntary return of 58,758 Syrians to the safe zones in northern Syria last year, the Interior Ministry announced Monday.

Data shared by the ministry revealed that this was the highest number of deportations in Türkiye’s history, up by some 161% compared to 2021.

Recent figures brought the number of irregular migrants deported since 2016 to 449,326.

Throughout 2022, a total of 280,206 irregular migrants were denied entry into Türkiye, adding to the 2.7 million that were turned back since 2016. Meanwhile, 236,572 migrants – who were not the recurring cases – were caught last year.

The ministry recorded Türkiye’s deportation success rate as 71%, excluding the ongoing and recurring cases.

Nearly 60,000 Syrians return

Türkiye also ensured the safe and voluntary return of 58,758 Syrians to the safe zones established across its border in northern Syria, the ministry further said, raising the number of Syrians that returned so far to a total of 539,332.

Türkiye hosts nearly 5 million refugees, more than any country in the world. After the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, Ankara adopted an "open-door policy" for people fleeing the conflict, granting them "temporary protection" status. The country is currently home to a total of 3,535,898 Syrian refugees. It also provides a variety of services for their adaptation and social benefit.

In 2022, some 1,395,055 people received education under the Social Adaptation and Life Education (SUYE) program, which has taught 1,549,680 people so far.

Adaptation and communication activities led in collaboration with opinion leaders, students, academicians and nongovernmental organizations reached out to some 1,605,190 people.

Some 1,164,362 people were provided service at the Immigration Consultation Centers while 1,948,224 people were given Turkish, reading and writing, and Quran classes, as well as general and vocational education.

The Foreigners Communication Center (YIMER) received 33,272,616 calls in 2022. A total of 1,024 irregular migrants who called for emergency help for reasons primarily involving human trafficking, migrant smuggling and being stranded at sea were rescued.

To maintain a balance in communities, Turkish authorities also closed off 1,169 neighborhoods in 63 provinces to foreigners seeking new applications to move in or change addresses due to their presence exceeding 20% of the local population.

More migrants saved in Aegean

On the first Monday of the new year, Türkiye also rescued 134 more irregular migrants pushed into its territorial waters by Greece and caught 69 irregular migrants trying to cross illegally.

The Turkish Coast Guard Command said their teams caught 32 foreign nationals trying to cross illegally in rubber boats and rescued 16 irregular immigrants who were pushed into Turkish territorial waters by Greek elements in the Bodrum district of southwestern Muğla province.

Five other irregular migrants lost on a rubber boat after being turned away by Greek elements were also rescued off the coast of Muğla’s Datça district.

Meanwhile, 113 irregular migrants who were illegally pushed back into Turkish territorial waters by Greek authorities were rescued and 37 migrants were caught off western Izmir province.

All the migrants were taken to provincial migration offices.

Türkiye is a critical transit route for asylum-seekers hoping to cross into Europe in search of better lives, especially those fleeing war and prosecution in the larger Middle East and Northern Africa. Both human rights groups and media outlets have widely documented Greece’s human rights breaches and violent anti-migrant policy.

Ankara too has repeatedly condemned Athens’ illegal practice of pushing back asylum-seekers, stressing that it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.

While the Turkish coast guard has come to the rescue of thousands sent back by Greek authorities, countless others died at sea as boats full of refugees sank or capsized, especially in the Aegean Sea where both countries share a border.

The International Organization for Migration has recorded nearly 2,000 migrants as dead or missing in the Mediterranean Sea this year alone.

A report by Türkiye’s Ombudsman Institution said in July 2022 that Greece has pushed back nearly 42,000 migrants since 2020.

Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16, 2022, the Turkish Coast Guard Command’s Aegean Command Station saved 47,498 irregular migrants in 1,550 separate cases across its areas of responsibility, over 18,000 of whom were victims of Greece’s pushback policy.

Athens consistently denies the accusations despite abundant migrant testimonies, media evidence and international scrutiny. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government since coming into office in 2019 has vowed to make his country "less attractive" to asylum-seekers.

The migrant crisis in the Aegean and the broader Mediterranean remains unsolved.