60 Refugees Feared Dead After Boat Sinks in Lake Van
Turkey’s Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday that a boat carrying 60 refugees sank in Lake Van in Turkey, near the Iranian border, and said that the bodies of six people have been recovered so far.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced on Wednesday, June 11, that the boat was likely carrying between 55 and 60 refugees.
Their boat sank on June 27, Saturday of the current week, due to stormy weather in the region, and search operations began at that time, but only six bodies have been found so far.
Soylu said 11 people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Turkish media reports suggest that the drowned individuals were likely citizens of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan who illegally entered Turkey through Iran and attempted to reach the western part of the country via Lake Van.
Refugees typically seek ways to reach Europe after reaching western Turkey.
Soylu said the sunken boat is at a depth of 110 to 120 meters in the lake, and underwater equipment to search for the bodies of the deceased has been sent from Ankara.
The Associated Press also reported that similar incidents occurred in Lake Van last year, in which 64 people were rescued, but seven refugees lost their lives.
Turkey has kept its borders with Iran closed since early March of last year, but smuggled and clandestine refugees cross the borders, and to avoid being caught at police checkpoints, they prefer to cross Lake Van.
Turkey’s official statistics show that by the end of last year, the country hosted 3.7 million Syrian refugees and over 300,000 refugees from other countries, including Iran.
Turkey is typically a temporary country for foreign refugees to obtain refugee status in Western countries.
Some Iranians who have the necessary capital to obtain Turkish citizenship through real estate purchases also directly leave the country through this method, but their number is very low compared to around 30,000 Iranian refugees in Turkey.
Official Turkish statistics show that over the past three years, approximately 1,500 Iranian citizens have been able to obtain Turkish citizenship by purchasing real estate worth at least $250,000. Iranians are the leading buyers of residential property in Turkey among foreigners.
According to data from Turkey’s General Directorate of Migration in 2019, Turkey hosted more than 5 million foreigners from 192 different countries. Of this number, 3 million and 695 thousand are Syrian nationals under temporary protection, 1 million and 70 thousand have settled in Turkey with residence permits, and more than 324 thousand have applied for refugee status upon arrival in Turkey and seek resettlement in a third country.
Three-quarters of refugees in Turkey entered the country through illegal and smuggling routes.
Source: Radio Farda
