Recent Trends in Transit Migration Routes Through Turkey to Europe

Abstract

Due to its geographical proximity to Western countries, Turkey is becoming one of the critical points of a complex migration system that includes asylum seekers, refugees, regular, irregular and transit migrants. For this reason, Turkey, regarded as a “transition country”, is a very important station on the way to European destinations. With this aspect, Turkey has become a key country in terms of the EU’s border security, and this feature has become the focal point of EU–Turkey relations.Despite the importance and insufficient opportunities for irregular migration to the EU, Turkey’s struggle with transit migration will be discussed in this study. Furthermore, the routes used by refugees to reach Europe through Turkey, as well as the statistics related with these routes, will be examined.