Turkey deports over 1000 irregular migrants in 5 days

ISTANBUL - In what appears to be a sweeping action, Turkey has deported over 1000 irregular migrants in the first five days of 2023.

The country's immigration agency stated on Saturday that a total of 1028 irregular migrants were deported from January 1 - 5 in the ongoing year.

DÜZENSİZ GÖÇLE MÜCADELEMİZ DEVAM EDİYOR

1-5 Ocak’ta;
📌𝟏.𝟗𝟖𝟑 düzensiz göçmen yakalandı.
📌𝟏.𝟎𝟐𝟖 düzensiz göçmen sınır dışı edildi.
📌𝟏.𝟖𝟖𝟗 düzensiz göçmenin ülkemize girişi engellendi.

📌 𝟐𝟎.𝟓𝟖𝟖 yabancının sınır dışı işlemleri sürüyor.#TürkiyeGöçüYönetiyor 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/opjXTQWIpV

— Göç İdaresi Başkanlığı (@Gocidaresi) January 7, 2023

In a twitter post, the agency highlighted that during the same five days, 1,889 irregular migrants were prevented from entering Türkiye.

The authority clarified that at present 20,497 irregular migrants were in repatriation centers and the number of irregular migrants whose procedures continue under invitation to leave stood at 91.

Every year, thousands of people enter Turkey in a bid to end up in Europe through illegal travel agents; however, the authorities have deported such aspirants in past as well and have discouraged the practice.