Turkey detains nearly 300 'illegal refugees' in nationwide crackdown

Just under 300 foreign nationals were detained by Turkish authorities for illegally remaining in the country, security sources said on Saturday.

Sixty-six Syrians, including women and children, were among those held during police raids in 13 hotels in Bodrum.

Thirty-five Afghan migrants in a boat in the Aegean Sea were also held by Turkish coast guard teams in south-western Mugla province.

Security sources said the migrants had ignored police warnings to stop off the Akyarlar Bay in Bodrum district.

They were holding temporary residence certificates in Istanbul, Izmir, Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras provinces and were planning to cross into Europe illegally, sources added.

Meanwhile, in the northern Karabuk province, the gendarmerie forces rounded up 78 migrants, including women and children, who had allegedly entered Turkey illegally.

Forty-nine of those detained during a raid on a passenger bus travelling from northern Kastamonu province to northwestern Kocaeli province were Afghans, 23 others Pakistanis and six Myanmar nationals, sources said.

Forty eight others, including Iranian nationals, were held in the northern Cankiri province during a road check, sources said.

Turkish gendarmerie held 18 foreign nationals including Syrians and Eritreans during a road check in Ipsala district, during another operation in the northwestern province of Edirne, bordering Greece and Bulgaria.

An additional five undocumented Syrian nationals were caught during a road check.

Turkey's state news agency Anadolu reported all of the migrants were referred to the Migration Management Authority in the related provinces for legal proceedings.