UPDATES HEADLINE; ADDS MORE MIGRANTS HELD IN MUGLA
By Zafer Tayfur and Hakan Mehmet Sahin
VAN, Turkey (AA) – At least 412 irregular migrants were held across Turkey, security sources said Friday.
In Baskale district of eastern Van province, 118 migrants, including children, were caught by local gendarmerie forces, the sources said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
The migrants were nationals of Afghanistan and Pakistan, they added.
Separately, in northwestern Kirklareli province, security forces held 37 people attempting to illegally cross into Europe.
The arrests of the Iraqi, Palestinian, Afghan and Pakistani nationals occurred in Kirklareli’s Babaeski and Kofcaz districts as well as close to the Derekoy Border Crossing near Bulgaria.
The Turkish Coast Guard also identified a group of 43 people sailing in a rubber boat off the coast of Tekagac Cape in western Aydin province, according to the sources.
During patrols carried out in Turkey's south Aegean region, coast guard teams held 13 Afghan nationals, nine Iraqis, six Palestinians and 15 Syrians.
In Ayvacik district of northwestern Canakkale province, gendarmerie units held 37 irregular migrants, the sources said.
The migrants, including women and children, were from Afghanistan, they added.
Also in eastern Elazig province, local gendarmerie units held 22 migrants after stopping a van during a regular patrol on the Elazig-Diyarbakir road, according to another security source.
The source added that among the migrants were Afghan and Pakistani nationals.
In northwestern Edirne province, a total of 129 migrants of Somali, Pakistani, Afghan, Algerian, Libyan, Tunisian and Iraqi nationality were held during patrols of gendarmerie forces.
Another 10 Syrians were caught when they were about to set sail off the coast of Bodrum district in southern Mugla province.
Later Friday, the coast guard in Bodrum intercepted 16 migrants of Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi and Palestinian nationality.
The gendarmerie forces also discovered a boat to be used by the migrants.
All of the migrants were referred to the provincial migration offices.
Turkey has been a main route for irregular migrants trying to cross into Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.
