European migrant crisis

Turkey's Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has slammed Greek authorities, claiming that the Greek has thrown three migrants into the Aegean Sea, which resulted in one of the victims' death.

Soylu said on Twitter that two of the migrants were rescued while the other one had died following an incident off the coast of the Çeşme district in Turkey's İzmir province.

2021 was a grim year for what are called "European values".

More than 1 million Syrian refugees have returned from Turkey to their country, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said.

The Turkish Coast Guard has caught more than 21,400 irregular migrants in Turkey's seas between January and Dec. 6.

In the whole of last year, the Coast Guard intercepted nearly 14,000 people in 594 incidents of irregular migration.

From the start of this year until early December, 768 such incidents occurred, the Coast Guard said.

A U.K. parliamentary committee on Dec. 1 criticized government plans to deter migrants and refugees from trying to reach Britain in small boats, saying the measures would endanger lives without stopping dangerous journeys across the English Channel like the one that killed 27 people last week.

The Turkish Coast Guard has rescued nearly 100 irregular migrants in the Aegean Sea over the weekend.

Acting on the information that a group of irregular migrants were sailing in a boat off the coast of Karaada in the Çeşme district of the western province of İzmir, the Coast Guard launched an operation.

The team rescued 29 irregular migrants.

The European Parliament on Nov. 24 gave the final green light for extending a cash-assistance program for the vulnerable Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Pushbacks in the Aegean Sea have diverted vessels carrying irregular migrants to Italy, Turkey's interior minister said on Nov. 19.

Noting recent reports of an increase in irregular migrant arrivals in Italy from Turkey, Süleyman Soylu told Anadolu Agency that the ships carrying these migrants were not coming from Turkey.

Turkish coast guard units rescued dozens of asylum seekers pushed back by Greek forces late on Nov. 15. 

A total of 45 asylum seekers were rescued from a rubber boat off the coast of Ayvalık district in Turkey's northwestern province of Balıkesir, the Turkish Coast Guard said in a statement.

One person was also arrested for alleged human smuggling, the statement said.

Turkish authorities have rejected Greece's claims that a rubber dinghy full of migrants were escorted by two Turkish boats in the Aegean Sea out of Turkey's territory, by publishing footage debunking the allegations.