Over 250 undocumented migrants held across Turkey

By Erdal Turkoglu, Kemal Ozdemir, and Cihan Demirci

ERZINCAN/HATAY/EDIRNE, Turkey

At least 252 undocumented migrants were held on Thursday in anti-human trafficking operations across Turkey, according to security officials.

A total of 45 Afghan nationals were rounded up in northeastern Erzincan province, according to a security official, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media.

In southern Hatay province, 29 Syrians who were trying to illegally cross into Turkey were held by security forces.

In northwestern Edirne province, security forces held 178 migrants. They include Syrian, Afghan, Pakistani, Indian, Libyan, Algerian, Moroccan, and Palestinian nationals.

Turkey has been a main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, since especially the beginning of the civil war in Syria.

So far, hundreds of thousands of people have made short but perilous journeys across the Aegean to reach northern and western Europe.