Despite the slipping numbers of migrants illegally crossing into its territories, Turkey seeks to improve its current laws and protocols in preventing the proliferation of small – and large-scale organisations seeking to take advantage of the vulnerability of asylum seekers.
At the same time, it plans for more humanitarian programmes to help asylum seekers find a better way to cross international territories.
Hands-on fighting migrant syndicates
The Turkish Ministry of Interior confirmed that the nationwide crackdown against migrant smugglers, even those outside Turkey, has drastically helped to bring down the entry of illegal migrants into the country.
It said that 4,125 operations in 2025 alone were deployed throughout Turkey to apprehend individuals and/or groups forming schemes to take advantage of migrants trying to cross the Eurasian nation.
Out of more than 4,100 operations, a whopping 7,062 smugglers have fallen into the hands of Turkish authorities.
Such figures, according to the Turkish ministry, indicated the corruption involved in using refugees as part of a horrific market where criminals take advantage of migrants’ desperation by demanding thousands of euros or dollars in exchange for a supposed legal entry to Turkey.
But in reality, many migrants end up in the middle of nowhere and between international borders after being left there by those syndicates, making them illegal and without proper documents.
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Bolstering border control in Turkey’s migrant hotspots
To further combat these illegal acts, the government has laid “points” or hubs in areas where migrants usually cross to check their documents for the legitimacy of their travel and aid those who have been victims of migrant smuggling.
The ministry said at least 375 migrant hubs have been in place and have verified as many as 2.4 million migrants, with thousands being deported for failure to present proper documents for their travel to Turkish territories.
Turkey has been considered a melting point of migrants, across all walks of life, bound by one goal: to enter Europe for better opportunities in life.
Given Turkey’s strategic geographic position, as it occupies both European and Asian regions, it ranks among the countries with the most sheltered asylum seekers, mostly from the Middle East, Africa and Asian nations.
Turkey tries to be creative to cut numbers of refugees
The country has been vocal in the past in its attempt to lessen the number of asylum seekers to be welcomed in Turkish territories, citing congestion in border regions and strain on its resources for taking care of its Turkish population as well as the millions of migrants continuously arriving.
Among the solutions it has implemented are deportation of illegal migrants, stricter border controls and collaborating with its neighbours.
Such is the case with Syria, where Turkey has pledged aid to the war-torn nation to encourage millions of Syrian migrants in Turkey to return to their homeland after the ousting of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
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Geoffrey H. Latayan 
Vivien Bernardino