Turkey detains 25,314 Afghans in first eight months, migration data show

New figures from Turkey’s Directorate of Migration Management show that police in the country detained 25,314 Afghan nationals in the first eight months of this year on suspicion of undocumented migration.

According to the figures, nearly 95,000 undocumented migrants from different countries were detained in Turkey during the same period, with Afghans forming the largest group among those held.

After Afghan nationals, citizens of Syria, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Morocco, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan and Yemen made up the next largest numbers on the list of detainees.

In recent years, Turkey has been one of the main routes and destinations for migration for Afghan citizens, and the country’s migration statistics are usually published periodically to show the detention and identification of undocumented migrants.