Boat Carrying Refugees Sinks near Aegean Sea Cost of Turkey

In Datça district of Muğla province in Aegean Region of Turkey, a boat carrying refugees sank; 13 people died. 4 of them were children.

The boat sank between Datça and Kos Island of Greece in a region of trans-boundary waters.

5 Coast Guards Boats have been sent to the region.

According to the recent news of Hürriyet, 22 people died while 211 people were saved. Rescue efforts are going on.

Another refugee boat sank near İzmir province; 2 refugees died, 11 refugees were saved.

2500 refugees died in 2015 in the Mediterranean Sea

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 2,500 refugees died trying to reach Europe in 2015 and in the last eight months 300 thousand refugees entered Europe from Mediterranean Sea. Turkey is an important transit point for refugees.

Refugees continue to seek shelters in Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Germany. European countries take precautions to prevent the migration. Hungary and Serbia enclosed their borders with wire. The tension between two countries about the situation of the refugees is increasing.

Assistant Professor Doctor Lami Bertan Tokuzlu from İstanbul Bilgi University Law Faculty told bianet on September 3 that international protection system wasn’t designated properly and the burden wasn’t shared equally due to deficiency of international collaboration.

Tokuzlu:

“Turkey is trying to prevent refugees from crossing the border by security measures like putting up walls near borders. More collaborations are needed.”

Tokuzlu added Turkey should press EU and the U.S.A for collaboration.

According to the datum of UNHCR, there are 4 million Syrian refugees. UNHCR expects the number to reach 4,27 million until the end of 2015:

1.805.255 (Turkey), 249.726 (Iraq), 629.128 (Jordan), 132.375 (Egypt), 1.172.753 (Lebanon) and 24.055 (other places). (EA/BD)

Photo Credit: Ali Ballı, AA

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