ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities have seized
a total of 330 migrants attempting to cross to the Greek island
of Lesbos, officials said on Sunday.
The coastguard in the Kucukkuyu area of the western
Canakkale province said it had conducted seven operations to
pick up migrants trying to make the crossing since Saturday
evening.
The migrants seized were Afghan, Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi
nationals, it said, adding that the number attempting to cross
to Lesbos had surged recently and that 699 people had been
seized since Aug. 10.
Mediterranean arrivals into the European Union, including
migrants making the longer and more perilous crossing from north
Africa to Italy, totalled 172,301 in 2017, down from 362,753 in
2016 and over a million in 2015, according to U.N. data.
Numbers declined sharply since 2015 after Turkey, in
exchange for 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in European Union
aid and a promise to ease visa restrictions for Turks, began to
exert more control on migrants trying to cross to the EU via its
territory.
Yet many still attempt the short but perilous sea trip and
Turkey remains one of the main launch points.