Nearly 200 undocumented migrants held across Turkey

By Ramazan Ercan, Ibrahim Yaldiz, Hanife Sevinc

IZMIR, Turkey

At least 198 undocumented migrants have been held across Turkey on Friday, according to security sources and a local governor office.

Forty-six migrants were rounded up in Cesme district of the Aegean province of Izmir, said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to media.

The foreign migrants -- among them Syrians, Africans, Iraqis and Palestinians -- were attempting to cross into Greece using an illegal route, the source said.

In a separate operation in the northwestern Canakkale province, the coast guards held 64 undocumented migrants who were planning to illegally cross into Europe, another source said.

The migrants, including women and children, on an inflatable boat were rounded up off Ayvacik district of the province, the source added.

Another 88 migrants were held in Korkut district of the eastern Mus province, the local governor's office said in a statement.

The migrants -- including 74 Afghans and 14 Pakistanis -- in vehicles were stopped by the security forces. The drivers of the vehicles were etained on the charges of human smuggling, the statement said.

All the migrants were later referred to the provincial migration authorities.

Turkey has been a main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.

Among the migrants held in 2017 in Turkey, the majority came from Pakistan -- around 15,000 -- followed by Afghans at around 12,000. Syrians totaled about 10,000. There has been a 60 percent increase in migrant flow since 2016. The number was 31,000 in 2016.