Istanbul: Turkish security forces have held nearly 1,500 irregular migrants last week, most of them Afghans, near the southeastern border with Iran, officials, amid rising violence in Afghanistan.
Officials from a regional government and the Ministry of Home Affairs said 1,456 migrants had been detained since July 10 near Mountain Erek in East Van Province, and 11 human traders who took them to Turkey.
Concerns about the potential for the entry of new migrants to Turkey from Afghanistan, through Iran, have grown in recent weeks when violence between the Afghanistan and Taliban government has soared when we and NATO forces withdrew.
Video recordings have shown large migrant groups in the border area, even though the Turkish government says there is no wave in number.
The UN refugee agency estimates that 270,000 Afghans have been transferred into the country since January, bringing the number of people forced from their homes to more than 3.5 million.
Turkish Foreign Minister, Afghanistan and Iran discussed security, energy, and migration last month but Turkish diplomatic sources said there was no special mechanism between Ankara and Tehran to overcome the migration of Afghanistan.
Turkey accommodates more than 4 million refugees, mostly from Syria, and is the host of the leading refugee in the world.