Aftermath of the First Libyan Civil War

Lawmakers are to vote later Wednesday on a major revamp of the European Union's migration laws, aiming to end years of division over how to manage the entry of thousands of people without authorization and deprive the far-right of a vote-winning campaign issue ahead of June elections.

In a recent report by the EU Asylum Agency, Bulgaria has emerged as one of the most popular destinations for migrants seeking asylum within the European Union. According to the agency's annual findings released on Wednesday, Bulgaria ranked eleventh among European countries in terms of asylum applications registered by its authorities in 2023.

The number of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece by sea has more than doubled in 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, according to updated data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Turkey is facing fresh refugee influx from the regional countries but is taking new measures to stop these new migrant inflows, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said, stressing that migration is a growing humanitarian problem around the world.

Turkey has deported 28,581 irregular migrants since the new year, the Presidency of Migration Management, affiliated with the country's Interior Ministry, has said.

In a statement issued on May 24, the institution expressed, "Compared to the same period last year, deportation of the irregular migrants has increased by 70 percent."

More than 38,000 migrant smugglers have been apprehended and over 9,000 suspects have been arrested in Turkey in the past six years, according to the Presidency of Migration Management.

From Jan. 1 to April 19 this year, security forces have captured 2,545 migrant smugglers, which points to a 53 percent increase from the same period in 2021, the authority said in a statement.

Turkey has increased the number of repatriation centers, expanding the capacity of those facilities to accommodate 20,000 people.

The capacity of the repatriation centers scattered across the European Union countries is only 16,000.

A voluntary, safe and honorable return of Syrian migrants to their homeland is at the center of Turkey's refugee policy, a Turkish official has said, informing that more than half a million Syrians have already settled in their own country as a result of Turkey's efforts.

Turkish security forces held as many as 18 irregular migrants in the country's southwestern and northwestern provinces on Oct. 9.

In the Aegean province of Muğla, 12 irregular migrants attempting to leave the country through illegal means were held by the Coast Guard teams.

Security forces held at least 42 irregular migrants traveling in a minibus in eastern Turkey on Aug. 29.

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Acting on a tip, local gendarmerie forces in the Van province pulled over a minibus en route from the town of Erciş to Adilcevaz.