Four people were killed and 23 others injured when a van carrying illegal migrants crashed in eastern Turkey early Monday. All of the casualties were illegal migrants whose nationalities were unknown, while the driver was also among the injured.
The accident in Adilcevaz, a district of eastern Bitlis province, occurred when the driver allegedly tried to escape security forces at a checkpoint and ran into a pile of soil, causing the van to overturn.
Media outlets reported that there were 26 illegal migrants inside the van, which had a capacity of 12 passengers. Security forces also detained two suspects in a car "escorting" the van. It was those suspects who told the driver to take an alternate route upon seeing the checkpoint.
Victims were transferred to nearby hospitals, while an investigation is underway into the incident.
Adilcevaz is located in a region where illegal migration has been an ongoing issue via Turkey’s border with Iran. Although it does not lie on the border like its neighboring province Van, Bitlis has its fair share of illegal migrants, mostly from Asian countries, particularly from Afghanistan. Like in Van, migrants use Bitlis as a gateway to other provinces in Turkey’s west and in most cases, they seek to cross into European countries through the country’s western borders, by sea or land.
Deadly incidents involving migrants are less common in the region than the fatal journeys to Greece via the Aegean Sea on dinghies from Turkish shores. Yet, in 2020, 61 migrants were killed when a boat carrying them sank in Lake Van, which Adilcevaz is also littoral to.
Turkey has recently seen an increase in refugees, particularly from Afghanistan. Concerns have risen over a possible spike in migrants from Afghanistan due to the United States' pullout from the country after two decades.
Within the scope of fighting irregular migration, a 243-kilometer (151-mile) concrete wall, topped with barbed wire and surrounded by trenches, is being erected along Turkey’s 534-kilometer border with Iran. Turkey is not the only country putting up barriers. Its neighbor Greece has completed a 40-kilometer fence and surveillance system to keep out migrants who still manage to enter Turkey and try to reach the European Union.
Authorities say there are 182,000 registered Afghan migrants in Turkey and up to an estimated 120,000 unregistered ones. In a speech last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged European countries to take responsibility for any new influx, warning that Turkey had no intention of becoming "Europe's migrant storage unit."