The Turkish coast guard announced on Sunday that a total of 94 irregular migrants, pushed into Turkish waters by Greece, were rescued.
The Coast Guard Command said in a statement that they dispatched a vessel to the area upon sighting a group of migrants aboard life rafts off the coast of the town of Çeşme in the Turkish Aegean province of Izmir, and found 66 migrants, including 17 children. All were driven to Turkish waters by Greek authorities.
Also off the coast of Seferihisar, Izmir, 28 migrants, including eight children, were found on a rubber boat pushed back into Turkish waters by Greece.
Greece, one of the gateways into the European Union for refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa, has been accused by aid groups of forcibly ejecting migrants at its sea and land borders, also known as "pushbacks," an illegal practice.
Türkiye itself is 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. Turkish security forces stop others before crossing the border into Europe.
The latest statistics, between 2010 and 2023, show Türkiye rescued 184,175 irregular migrants from its seas after they put their lives in danger with the hope of reaching Europe. Some 923 migrants, on the other hand, ended up dead on perilous journeys in the same period, while 503 people remain unaccounted for after their boats sank.
Just earlier this month, Turkish authorities recovered the bodies of seven irregular migrants. They rescued 18 others in the Aegean off the coast of an islet after their boat was pushed back by Greek security forces and hit the tricks, sinking with 27 on board.