Over 150 irregular migrants held across Turkey

By Durmus Genc, Ilhan Toprak, Cihan Demirci and Ozgur Tiran

MUGLA / BALIKESIR / EDIRNE / KIRKLARELI, Turkey (AA) - A total of 153 irregular migrants were held across Turkey on Friday, according to multiple security sources.

Turkish Coast Guard held 51 irregular migrants on a rubber boat off the coast of Aegean Mugla province, said a security source who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

In the western province of Balikesir, gendarmerie forces held 47 migrants who were preparing to illegally cross the border.

Separately, coast guard units launched an operation off the coast of northwestern Edirne province, bordering Greece and Bulgaria.

Thirty-six Afghan and Iranian nationals including four children were held in a rubber boat by the forces.

Gendarmerie forces detected two group of migrants who were preparing to illegally cross to Europe in the Babaeski and Kofcaz districts of northwestern Kirklareli province.

The forces held 19 Pakistani, Afghan and Iraqi nationals in those districts.

All of the migrants were later referred to provincial migration directorates.

Turkey has been the main route for irregular migrants trying to cross to Europe, especially since 2011, when the Syrian civil war began.

Some 268,000 irregular migrants were held in Turkey in 2018, according to the Interior Ministry.

*Writing by Burak Bir