Over 600 irregular migrants held in Turkey

By Salih Baran and Cihan Demirci

EDIRNE, Turkey (AA) - A total of 636 irregular migrants were held across Turkey on Wednesday, according to security sources.

Out of total, 565 migrants were held in the western Edirne province by security forces near the Turkish- Greek border, said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The migrants are from Palestine, Morocco, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria.

Also, a minibus carrying 16 irregular migrants from Morocco and Algeria crashed in Edirne, injuring 11 of them, including the driver.

The injured were taken to a hospital.

Meanwhile, operations in the western Tekirdag and the southern Hatay province was the arrest of 55 irregular migrants.

Turkey has been the main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.

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

The migrants were mostly Afghan, Pakistani, Syrian and Iraqi nationals.

* Omer Ural from Tekirdag and Erdal Turkoglu from Hatay contributed this story