Amid persistent efforts to block illegal crossings, irregular migrant activity has decreased by more than 95% and this year alone, Turkish authorities have stopped 1,452 irregular migrants trying to cross the land border between Türkiye and Greece, Edirne Governor Yunus Sezer reported on Sunday.

Edirne is Türkiye’s land gateway to Greece and hence, to Europe, and is a major hub for irregular migrants, as well as criminals, terror suspects and others en route to the continent.

Security forces regularly comb the city of Edirne for irregular migrants, with aerial support in uninhabited areas near the border. Since Jan. 1, 64 suspects have been detained on charges of migrant smuggling. Another 33 suspects involved in migrant smuggling were also arrested since Jan. 1. Authorities also seized a large number of vehicles transporting migrants to the border.

Sezer, who is the former head of Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), a major government agency overseeing the needs of refugees, says authorities are running inspections around the clock against irregular migration. "We are at a good point in the fight against irregular migration. It is minimized thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our security forces, the presidency and the Interior Ministry. Our tight measures will remain in place," he said.

Last week alone, authorities intercepted 166 migrants and detained four suspects involved in smuggling across the province.

Türkiye has been the main destination for refugees trying to cross into Europe, 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 are able to make the dangerous journey 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 Europe.

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 Edirne, several cases of similar "pushbacks" were documented in the past years. In some cases, migrants were found naked and bruised after what they claimed were from beatings at the hands of Greek border officials who stripped them and forced migrants to march back to the Turkish side. On the Maritsa (Meriç) River dividing two countries, migrants were in the past forced to row back to the Turkish border after their boats were turned back by Greek forces.

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. Last year alone, 20 people died while traveling to nearby Greek islands from the Turkish coast. Eleven went missing as they strived to reach the islands in the Aegean Sea, while the Turkish coast guard saved 23,977 irregular migrants from certain death.

Economic crises and conflicts drove more people abroad as irregular immigrants, and European countries have remained attractive to migrants from African and Asian countries in the past decade. The sea route is naturally the main choice of migrants, but it is also the most dangerous as the Mediterranean waters are not always safe for boats, let alone dinghies, a cheap way of transportation for most migrants. Tricked by migrant smugglers to take the short route from Türkiye to Greece, migrants barely make it to the Greek waters before their boats are either caught or in danger of sinking amid bad weather.

The drama of the migrants drew global attention after the death of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian migrant who was traveling with his family when their boat sank in 2015. Kurdi’s tiny corpse, which washed ashore on the Turkish coast, was an image that highlighted the deadly ordeal migrants had to endure. However, migrant deaths have not dramatically diminished since then. Türkiye believes some of the eight bodies that washed ashore on the country’s southern coast in an area between the Antalya and Muğla provinces between Jan. 17 and Jan. 22 are likely irregular migrants. A boat carrying some 90 migrants from an area between Lebanon and Syria to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus sank on Dec. 11, 2023. The bodies likely drifted to the Turkish waters after this incident, while authorities suspect they were likely Syrian nationals.

While many make it to the EU, many others perish at sea or are pushed back by Greece into Turkish waters in violation of international law. Athens’ illegal practice has been documented by Türkiye, international human rights groups and charities on many occasions, as well as in accounts of migrants intercepted in the Aegean or land borders.

Greece has made a "recurring practice" of alleged secret, illegal and often brutal deportations back to Türkiye, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a report released on Oct. 31, citing 50 testimonies over the past two years from migrants. Athens has strongly denied such pushbacks, arguing that its coast guard has saved hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa crossing in small boats from Türkiye. Greece says it needs to protect its borders, which are also those of the EU, from mass illegal immigration. It has stepped up patrols in the Aegean Sea with the help of the European Border Surveillance Agency, Frontex.

The Turkish Coast Guard Command has rescued thousands of irregular migrants pushed back by Greece in the Aegean Sea so far. The coast guard said the highest number of pushbacks last year – some 11,715 migrants – occurred off the coast of western Izmir province, which has a meandering coast stretching over 460 kilometers (286 miles) and close to the Greek islands. Izmir was followed by other western provinces, Muğla, Çanakkale, Aydın and Balıkesir. In the first nine months of 2023, migrant arrivals in Greece spiked to over 29,700 people, compared to 11,000 in the same period in 2022, according to figures from the Greek government.

The latest figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) too revealed more than 2,750 people went missing and are presumed dead in the central Mediterranean this year, higher than in any of the last five years.

As part of recently revived talks to mend long-tense bilateral ties, Greece and Türkiye are floating a renewal of a 2016 EU deal restricting migration, as well. Türkiye itself copes with the irregular migration phenomenon as crises across the world once again put it at the forefront of migrant influx as a gateway to Europe. The country, 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.

Tighter borders

Further in the eastern land border, Türkiye taps technology and high walls to prevent irregular migrants pouring in from Asian countries. Those succeeding to infiltrate into Türkiye often head to Edirne to cross into Europe or the Aegean coast of the country. On the eastern border, advanced equipment like electro-optic towers, thermal cameras and ACAR Ground Surveillance Radar watch over a concrete wall, while border troops and commandos patrol the 534-kilometer (331-mile) borderline regularly to curb smuggling and infiltration of terrorists. The wall comprises precast concrete blocks and currently covers the more than 83-kilometer stretch of Ağrı province’s border with Iran where crossing attempts were the highest. Construction began in 2017 as part of a project to reinforce its border with Iran against the phenomenon. In the past three years, authorities stopped access to over 155,000 illegal migrants. Experts say it will be clear how effective the wall is once it is fully completed; but so far, migration routes have been shifting far from the area.

In 2022, a total of 124,441 irregular migrants were deported, and some 58,758 Syrians made voluntary returns to the safe zones in northern Syria, the Interior Ministry announced earlier. Data shared by the ministry revealed that this was the highest number of deportations in Türkiye’s history, up by some 161% compared to 2021.

Ankara views "international injustice" as the leading cause of irregular migration. According to Turkish officials, it is necessary to improve conditions in the countries where illegal migrants hail from, along with the need for voluntary returns in line with international standards for intercepted irregular migrants.

The country has been working to revive economic life and rebuild infrastructure in neighboring Syria’s northern regions to repatriate refugees who fled the decadelong civil war there.

Türkiye also emphasizes that the issue needs international cooperation and seeks to establish bilateral, regional and international groups to ensure cooperation.

In July, it joined over 20 nations and international organizations to launch the "Rome Process" to prevent and tackle irregular migration and human trafficking.

Last August, Türkiye joined forces with the United Kingdom to slow the flow of irregular migrants passing through its northern and western territory on their way to Europe. A new operational center comprising Turkish and British police will cooperate in sharing customs data, information, intelligence, staff and technology to disrupt and dismantle human trafficking gangs and the manufacture and supply of materials that enable small boat crossings.