Turkey Detains 200 Human Traffickers in a Month

Turkey’s Interior Ministry announced the detention of 200 individuals on human trafficking charges in the past month, alongside the apprehension of over 4,000 irregular migrants, Rudaw reported today.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya reported that these operations were conducted by the Gendarmerie across all 81 provinces. Among the detained smugglers, 82 were arrested, and 31 were referred to the judiciary.

The authorities also confiscated 107 vehicles used in human trafficking activities. The irregular migrants have been transferred to the Provincial Directorate of Immigration Management, where deportation procedures have commenced. No details regarding the nationalities of the migrants were disclosed.

Turkey continues to be a significant transit and destination country for migrants from the Middle East and Central Asia, with approximately 3.2 million Syrian refugees currently residing in the country under temporary protection status. A report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicated that Turkey hosted over 296,685 refugees and asylum seekers in 2023, primarily from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and Ukraine.

The Turkish government periodically conducts crackdowns on human trafficking and irregular migration. In recent months, significant operations have led to the detention of large numbers of migrants.