Turkish security forces have apprehended at least 19 migrant smuggling organizers in operations across two western provinces, the country’s Interior Ministry reported Sunday.
The southwestern Muğla and northwestern Çanakkale provincial gendarmerie commands conducted the operations, said Ali Yerlikaya in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The smugglers included one foreign national while 17 of them were remanded in custody and the remaining two were given judicial control decisions, Yerlikaya informed.
42 migrants saved, 29 others caught
Meanwhile, the Turkish Coast Guard Command picked up 71 more irregular migrants in its western waters in the Aegean Sea over the weekend.
Some 42 asylum-seekers were rescued while they were floating in two life rafts off the coast of Muğla’s Bodrum district on two separate occasions, the coast guard said Sunday. They had been illegally pushed back by Greek forces, it added.
The same day, 29 other migrants were caught as they attempted to cross the Turkish border over to Europe near the Kuşadası district of western Aydın province.
All asylum-seekers were pulled ashore and handed over to the provincial migration directorates, the authorities said.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants seeking to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.
Greece has employed a notorious policy of pushing back asylum-seekers since the height of the migration crisis in 2015.
The Greek government denies all allegations, despite claims to the contrary from alleged victims, rights groups, Turkish drones and even the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.
"In Greece, pushbacks at land and sea borders have become the de facto general policy," the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, said last year.
Similarly, many in the international community, including Türkiye, have frequently condemned the practice as a violation of humanitarian values and international law for endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants.
Greece has also been accused of deliberately and systematically cooperating with the EU’s border agency Frontex for the pushbacks, according to a 2022 investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
While the Turkish coast guard has rescued 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 (IOM) recorded nearly 2,000 migrants dead or missing in the Mediterranean Sea last year.
For Ankara, "international injustice" is the leading cause of irregular migration. According to Turkish officials, it is necessary to improve conditions in the countries where illegal migrants hail from, along with the need for voluntary returns in line with international standards for intercepted irregular migrants.
In July, Türkiye joined over 20 nations and international organizations to launch the "Rome Process" to prevent and tackle irregular migration and human trafficking.
In early August, Türkiye joined forces with the United Kingdom to slow the flow of irregular migrants passing through its northern and western territory on their way to Europe.
A new operational center comprising Turkish and British police will cooperate in sharing customs data, information and intelligence, people and technology to disrupt and dismantle human trafficking gangs and the manufacture and supply of materials that enable small boat crossings.