UPDATE - Over 270 migrants held or rescued across Turkey

ADDS FIGURES, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE AND EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Anadolu Agency Staff

ANKARA (AA) – As many as 276 migrants were either held or rescued Monday across a number of provinces in Turkey, according to security sources.

According to a statement, security units were tipped off that a large group of foreign nationals were at a social establishment located on the highway.

All 101 migrants, who had entered Turkey at different times, were held and two suspected human traffickers were arrested.

In Belen district of southern Hatay province, at least 28 migrants who were all Syrian nationals and illegally entered the country were held.

Acting on a tip, security teams stopped three vehicles and identified the migrants, according to local security sources.

While the migrants were sent to the local migration office, legal action was initiated against the three Syrian drivers.

Separately, a Turkish Coast Guard team was dispatched off the coast of Ayvacik in northwestern Canakkale province to rescue 25 asylum seekers.

The asylum seekers were trying to reach Europe by sailboat, according to a statement by the Coast Guard Command.

Another 43 asylum seekers, who were pushed back by the Greek Coast Guard into Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, were also rescued in Canakkale.

Four suspects were arrested for alleged human trafficking while the asylum seekers were sent to the local migration office.

Another group of 25 asylum seekers were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard, who were conducting a routine patrol off the coast of Bodrum district in Mugla province.

Additionally, three asylum seekers that were pushed back by the Greek Coast Guard into Turkish territorial waters reached Kusadasi in western Aydin province by swimming after a life boat did not take them.

A coast guard team learnt that the asylum seekers -- all Syrian nationals -- were stranded on the shore with no vehicle access and were later sent to the local migration office.

Meanwhile, acting on a tip, the Turkish Coast Guard rescued 10 asylum seekers from a rubber boat off the coast of Cesme in western Izmir province, said a source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Another coast guard team was dispatched off Seferihisar in Izmir province after learning that 41 asylum seekers were stranded on a rubber boat.

They were later taken to the provincial migration office.

Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

Turkey and human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece's illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.

*Writing by Merve Aydogan and Ali Murat Alhas