Turkey: Illegal gateway to Europe

By Joe Clancy, CNN.com writer

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Four major sea dramas involving illegal immigrants travelling via Turkey are putting the nation in the spotlight as a stepping stone for people smuggling between Asia, Africa and Europe.

The New Year's Day sinking of the cargo ship Pati in which at least six people died and dozens more are missing is the latest in a spate of incidents involving human trafficking through Turkey.

In November the Italian coastguard rescued a rudderless ship that had sailed from Turkey containing 900 illegal immigrants.

Three months earlier a small boat that was ferrying illegal immigrants to Greece capsized and eight people were drowned.

AUDIO Correspondent Tayfun Ertan discusses human trafficking in southern Europe 27 sec/300K AIFF or WAV sound Ertan details previous shipping disasters in the Mediterranean 29 sec/310K AIFF or WAV sound Ertan reports reports on the rescue of a survivor 31 sec/330K AIFF or WAV sound

And in July a ship carrying 418 illegal immigrants, including Kurds, Afghans, Sri Lankans, Nigerians and Sierra Leoneans, was intercepted off the southern Italian coast.

The Georgian-registered ship which sank on January 1 was carrying suspected illegal immigrants believed to be from Pakistan, Morocco, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India.

Greece and Italy are frequently the next staging posts on the passage of the immigrants following a well-known route through Turkey.

Last year an international conference on illegal immigration in Paris called for a global approach to an issue cited as one of the biggest potential problems facing the developed world in the new century.

The Italian Government lodged a protest with Turkey over the issue of human trafficking in illegal immigrants.

Last July Italy's Interior Ministry sent officials to Ankara to ask Turkey to respect agreed guidelines for cracking down on illegal immigration from its ports.

Italy later called for further meetings with Balkan states, Greece and Turkey, to look at fresh ways of clamping down on people smuggling.

CNN's Turkish correspondent Tayfun Ertan said it is believed there is huge smuggling racket trading in illegal immigrants operating from Istanbul and other Turkish cities.

He said: "People in search of better living conditions in the West do gather in major cities in Turkey. There are many trying to make money out of these people and they do try to smuggle them in ships that are not in good condition."

He said the illegal immigrants, if caught in Turkey, are given a small fine and deported, but there is nothing barring them from re-entering the country and trying again and again.

The International Organization for Migration said that migrant trafficking has become a global business generating huge profits for traffickers and organised crime syndicates.

A recent IOM study revealed that at any one time there are an estimated 15 to 30 million irregular migrants worldwide, and that an estimated 700,000 women and children are trafficked annually across borders.

The IOM says that because of their clandestine nature, irregular migration and trafficking are likely to remain significantly underreported crimes.

It says trafficking exposes migrants to exploitation and violation of their fundamental human rights.

Because they have to pay back a debt to traffickers, migrants frequently find themselves confined to sweatshops, factories, or forced into prostitution and begging, which is often controlled by criminal networks, when they reach their end destination.

Ship survivor found off Turkey
January 2, 2001
Flow of migrants causes tests Italy
August 1, 2000

Republic of Turkey
Italy Government
International Organization for Migration

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