Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Tuesday that Turkish authorities retrieved the bodies of seven irregular migrants off the country’s western coast.
Bodies were found near Karaada, an islet of Çeşme, a popular vacation resort in Izmir province on the Aegean coast.
Coast Guard Command teams were dispatched to the islet upon sightings of suspected irregular migrants while a fishing boat reported saving a migrant from a nearby point. The coast guard picked up 18 other migrants on the islet and discovered seven bodies nearby. Yerlikaya said they were searching for a missing migrant.
Rescued migrants told Turkish authorities that they were traveling aboard a boat to Greece but Greek security forces pushed their boat away to Turkish waters and they started drifting before hitting rocks on the islet. They said 27 people were aboard.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Every year, hundreds of thousands of migrants flee civil conflict or economic hardship in their home countries with the hope of reaching Europe.
Some migrants make dangerous journeys over land or sea with the assistance of smugglers, who often abandon them, especially during sea journeys, after receiving thousands of dollars from each migrant. Others are stopped by Turkish security forces before crossing the border into the European Union.
In some cases, neighboring Greece is accused of pushing back migrants in a controversial practice. In the Aegean Sea, Greek coast guard boats often drive out approaching migrant boats to the Greek islands.
In 2023, Turkish authorities intercepted 254,000 irregular migrants and arrested 3,744 migrant smuggling organizers.
Türkiye, which already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any other country in the world, is taking new measures at its borders to prevent a fresh influx of migrants, balancing a humanitarian policy and the need to stop thousands from risking their lives.