While Turkey has been undertaking initiatives in order to combat illegal migration, it also prevented the entry of nearly 600,000 irregular migrants at its borders since last year.

According to official statistics, the number of citizenships granted to those who came to Turkey with temporary status reached 192,000. As of April 4, the number of Syrians returning to their country reached 492,983.

As part of the fight against irregular migration, 320,172 foreigners have been deported since 2016. Since 2016, 19,336 Syrians have been deported due to security problems. Last year, 451,096 irregular migrants were prevented from entering the country.

As of April 14, 2022, the number of irregular migrants prevented from entering Turkey was determined as 127,256.

The future of nearly 5 million migrants, mostly Syrians, in Turkey has sparked heated debate in Turkish politics in recent days ahead of the upcoming Ramadan Bayram, also known as Eid al-Fitr, holidays.

Migrants and refugees in Turkey will voluntarily return to their countries once peace is established, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week.

Erdoğan told reporters in Ankara: "We are not a country that shoos migrants away. We embrace them," adding that the Syrians will want to return to their homes when peace is established and the construction of briquette homes is completed.

Erdoğan's remarks came amid an ongoing debate about whether to allow Syrian migrants and refugees in Turkey to visit their country during the upcoming Ramadan 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.

But 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 the society's economic problems, which some groups attribute to the influx of migrants.

Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular migrants aiming to cross to Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution. Ankara has made it clear that it will not bear the burden of further migration crises experienced as a result of the decisions of third countries.

Turkey hosts nearly 5 million refugees – more than any country in the world. After the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, Turkey adopted an "open-door policy" for people fleeing the conflict, granting them "temporary protection" status.

Also, the government is investing heavily in maintaining border security and combating smuggling and irregular migration. Every precaution has been taken to prevent infiltrations from security walls to lighting, from patrol roads to communication towers at the borders of Syria, Iran and Iraq.

Accordingly, 873 kilometers (542.46 miles) of the 911 kilometers of the Syrian border have been covered with security walls so far. Briquette houses were built at 248 different points in the Euphrates Shield Operation region in northern Syria, with the support of humanitarian aid organizations, in order to keep the war victims escaping from Syria in safe areas behind borders.

Measures have also been taken to the highest level to prevent the entry of those fleeing from Afghanistan and wishing to illegally cross into Turkey via the Iranian border.

For this purpose, the construction of 191 kilometers of a security wall and a patrol road, installation of lighting, camera and thermal sensors on the part of the Iranian border covering the provinces of Ağrı, Hakkari, Iğdır and Van have been completed so far. Construction of a 50-kilometer security wall and patrol road continues on the Hakkari and Van border lines.

Lighting system works for border security have also been completed to a large extent. In this context, 575 kilometers of lighting, 137 kilometers of energy transmission lines and 101 kilometers of wire fence/panel system were installed. Work continues on the installation of lighting systems on the 37-kilometer section of the Kilis-Syrian border and the 30-kilometer section of the Gaziantep-Syria border.

With the active use of 211 watchtowers and 130 communication towers, the construction of which has been completed on the eastern and western borders, 740 kilometers of the 1,182-kilometer eastern border and 350 kilometers of the 472-kilometer western border are monitored uninterruptedly and effectively. In this way, crimes such as illegal transit, terrorism and smuggling are prevented.

The installation work of electro-optical tower systems on the Turkey-Iran border line has come to an end. As a result of these works, modular concrete walls have been built and patrol roads have been built on the most risky 1,028 kilometer part of the 2,949 kilometer east and southeast borders, in order to maximize border security and prevent illegal migration.