European migrant crisis

While Greece turns to increased surveillance and more border patrols on its land and sea borders with Turkey to meet an anticipated new wave of refugees from Afghanistan, following the withdrawal of US troops and that country's fall to the Taliban, human rights experts have criticized well documented reports of violent pushbacks.

The international community's efforts are needed to solve the migration problem, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Sept. 12.

"If this [migration] is a global problem, we must work together as the international community to solve it," Çavuşoğlu told journalists in the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued a total of 172 asylum seekers off İzmir province since Aug. 30. 

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On Aug. 29, 72 asylum seekers were rescued near Menderes district in İzmir after being pushed back by Greek coastal authorities.

European Union justice and home affairs ministers are meeting Tuesday to discuss the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and the flow of refugees and migrants it is expected to produce.

The meeting comes the day after the last U.S. forces flew out of Kabul's international airport, ending America's longest war.

At least 137 irregular migrants were held by security forces across Turkey on Aug. 28.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Aug. 22 denied claims made by U.K. media outlets concerning the establishment of an asylum processing center in Turkey for Afghan asylum-seekers.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Aug. 21 that his country would not be able to cope with an "additional burden of migrants" arriving from Afghanistan.

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"A new wave of migration is inevitable if the necessary measures are not taken in Afghanistan and in Iran," Erdoğan said during a telephone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Turkey is not Europe's refugee warehouse, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, slamming European countries for trying to ignore the growing refugee problem by closing its doors amid fears of a new migrant influx from Afghanistan.

"Turkey has no duty, responsibility or obligation to be Europe's refugee warehouse," Erdoğan said after a cabinet meeting late Aug. 19.

The number of migrants illegally entering the European Union by crossing the Western Balkans has almost doubled this year, EU border agency Frontex said on Thursday, with the majority coming from Syria and Afghanistan, Reuters reported.

Between July 17 and July 22, Turkish Coast Guard units in the Aegean Izmir province rescued 388 asylum seekers illegally pushed back to Turkey's territorial waters by Greek forces, authorities said on July 26.