Amid unconfirmed media reports that say the United Kingdom will send irregular migrants from third countries to Türkiye, Ankara’s ambassador in London refuted the claim.

Such reports surfaced last year, before the start of the tenure of British Prime Minister Liz Truss. British media had claimed that Truss, then foreign secretary, planned to negotiate with Türkiye to send unwanted asylum-seekers to Türkiye, similar to a deal with Rwanda. The Turkish Foreign Ministry reacted by saying that Türkiye would not be a part of such a plan.

Osman Koray Ertaş told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Wednesday that Türkiye would never accept citizens of a third country who are irregular migrants, from any country, "including Britain." "We never intend to share the burden of irregular migrants of another country," he said.

Last month, British media reported that the U.K. government was planning to house migrants in tents to help deal with any surge in small boats crossing the Channel in the coming months. Able to house up to 2,000 migrants, the tents were purchased by the Interior Ministry, which plans to erect them on disused military sites by the end of August, several U.K. media outlets said. It follows an uptick in the number of arrivals on the shores of southeast England late last summer that led to criticism that the government was unprepared and overwhelmed. But the purported tent plans have provoked disquiet within its ranks, according to The Times, which said some officials had compared their use with concentration camps. The reports also come the day after the High Court ruled that the government's "systematic and routine" long-term use of Interior Ministry-run hotels to house lone migrant children was "unlawful."

An increase in cross-Channel migrant arrivals has stretched U.K. government resources and led to fierce political acrimony over their treatment. At the end of last year, more than 160,000 asylum-seekers were in limbo waiting for their applications to be processed. In the meantime, thousands more have arrived on British shores, with another surge expected in the months from August to October. However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to "stop the boats" and his government last month passed a controversial law barring asylum claims by anyone arriving via the Channel and other "illegal" routes. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Suella Braverman has introduced contentious housing policies aimed at reducing the use of costly hotel rooms in an asylum system that currently spends 6 million pounds ($7.8 million) daily on accommodation.

Ertaş said Türkiye has always emphasized international cooperation and global solidarity in the fight against irregular migration, "a global problem" but its calls at first went unnoticed (by the international community). He said countries became aware of the problem only after it evolved into a serious challenge for many countries and noted that Türkiye was in touch with other countries to resolve the issue. "In this framework, we are in touch not just with Britain but other countries, including those where migrants arrive from and countries where migrants seek to reach," Ertaş underlined.

The ambassador stressed that Türkiye was already engaged in cooperation with the United Kingdom in the fight against migrant smuggling and irregular migration but the reports that Türkiye would accept migrants from the U.K. were simply untrue.

"As a matter of fact, Türkiye already has its fair share of responsibility on this issue. It is out of the question to accept (irregular migrants) from Britain or another country," he said.

Türkiye signed a deal with the European Union in 2016 amid a growing irregular migration crisis. The deal curbed the number of irregular migrants attempting to cross into Europe through Türkiye though Ankara repeatedly complained that the EU did not fulfill its pledges to fund the services for refugees in the country. Türkiye currently hosts the largest refugee population from Syria in the world, while it remains an attractive destination for irregular migrants from around the world, especially from Asia and Africa.

Ertaş said readmission agreements were one of the basic tools to fight against irregular migration and Türkiye drafted such agreements with many countries including Romania, Greece, Nigeria and Pakistan. "We send back irregular migrants under these agreements, for instance, to Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.

The ambassador noted that the U.K. minister of state for immigration visited Türkiye last week and his visit concentrated on cooperation against irregular migration, particularly migrant trafficking.