Turkey has deported just over 59,000 irregular migrants so far this year, up 136% from the same period last year, according to official figures.
According to data from the Interior Ministry's Migration Management Directorate, 83,934 irregular migrants were denied entry to Turkey in the first seven months of 2022, while a total of 451,096 irregular migrants in eastern and southern provinces were denied entry over the course of 2021.
A total of 358,736 irregular migrants have been deported since 2016, it said.
In the first seven months of this year, 144 private flights deported 35,728 people to Afghanistan while 7,214 were flown back to Pakistan, it added.
Meanwhile, 514,358 Syrians voluntarily returned to their country, according to the figures.
Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum-seekers who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.
Turkey, which already hosts 4 million refugees – more than any country in the world – is taking new security measures both within and on its borders to prevent a fresh influx of migrants.
The future of nearly 5 million migrants, mostly Syrians, in Turkey has sparked heated debate in Turkish politics in recent months.
Migrants and refugees in Turkey will voluntarily return to their countries once peace is established, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on the issue.
Erdoğan's remarks came earlier this year amid an ongoing debate about whether to allow Syrian migrants and refugees in Turkey to visit their country during the bayram holidays. The migrants have been briefly visiting their families and relatives in areas liberated from terrorists during the holidays and returned back to Turkey.
However this year, a debate emerged as Turkey deals with an influx of migrants from more conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Ukraine and other countries, in addition to economic problems, which some sections shift the burden on migrants' shoulders.
It's been more than 10 years since the first group of Syrian refugees, consisting of 250 people, entered Turkey, starting their new lives in the country after fleeing the war and persecution of the Bashar Assad regime. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey has backed moderate opposition groups against the Assad regime and opened its doors to those who had to flee the country to save their lives. Now, Turkey hosts more Syrian migrants than any other country in the world. The country also leads humanitarian aid efforts for Syrians in Turkey and opposition-controlled areas of northern Syria, while making large investments for Syrians in Turkey in social cohesion policies to help Syrians integrate into society smoothly.
The return of Syrian refugees has been made possible by the safe zones created as a result of Turkey's successful cross-border counterterrorism operations against the PKK terrorist group's Syrian offshoot, the YPG, and Daesh terrorists. Since launching several operations in northern Syria to fight terrorism, Turkey also rolled up its sleeves to reconstruct hospitals, schools, mosques and roads destroyed by the terror groups. These efforts paid off as hundreds of displaced Syrians started to return to the liberated areas. In line with its goal to rejuvenate the region, Turkey is also building briquette houses for Syrians in the northwestern Idlib province, the last opposition bastion.
Most Syrians who fled the civil war and escaped to Turkey are happy in the country and do not want to return home, a recent poll of Syrian refugees in Turkey revealed.
