About 315,000 illegal immigrants were registered across Turkey in the first nine months of 2019 as the country continues to be a major transit route for people trying to reach Europe from the Middle East and Africa, media reported on Wednesday, citing Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2019) About 315,000 illegal immigrants were registered across Turkey in the first nine months of 2019 as the country continues to be a major transit route for people trying to reach Europe from the middle East and Africa, media reported on Wednesday, citing Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.According to Soylu, as cited by the Anadolu news agency, the ministry expects the number to reach 400,000 by the end of the year.
Soylu also added that in 2018, about 268,000 people were registered across Turkey.
On Tuesday, the Anadolu news agency reported, citing Turkish security officials, that over 4,400 illegal migrants were registered over the past week.
In early September, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that there were around 5 million migrants in the country.
Turkey hosts one of the largest migrant and refugee populations in the world. According to the International Organization for Migration, in late 2015, at the peak of Syria's civil war and the resulting refugee crisis, over 2.5 million people primarily Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans sought asylum in Turkey.
