ISTANBUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2023) More than 35,000 illegal migrants have been detained in Turkey, and over 16,000 of them have been deported from the country in the last two months, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Wednesday.
"In the last two months, we detained 35,797 illegal migrants as a result of raids. Of them, 16,018 migrants were deported, and necessary procedures are being carried out against another 19,502 in deportation centers," Yerlikaya said in a televised appearance on the A Haber broadcaster.
The minister added that nine mobile centers of the Directorate General of Migration Management had been set up in Istanbul as an experiment, where it is possible to instantly check a migrant's biometrics and migration status in the country. The ministry is planning to increase the number of centers up to 39, he said.
Raids to detain illegal migrants under the new interior minister are now conducted daily, including on tourist ferries. Yerlikaya has pledged not to stop fighting illegal migration.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has earlier said that Turkish nationals will soon feel a change as a result of operations against illegal migrants.
