EU wants explanation from Turkey on migrant smugglers
By LORNE COOK Associated Press
BRUSSELS (AP) – „The European Union wants Turkey to explain how human traffickers could have taken two cargo ships filled with migrants out of the country and sent them toward Italy without Turkish authorities noticing. […] Bertaud said contacts with Turkey are happening at the „political and technical level.“ […] Turkey’s Foreign Ministry didn’t have an immediate response.
The EU’s border agency Frontex said the smugglers of the latest two cargo boats are probably business opportunists in southeast Turkey who are not connected to regular smuggling networks.
„There is no evidence of these networks being connected. This might just be a new business opportunity that someone has picked up in Turkey,“ spokeswoman Izabella Cooper told the Associated Press by telephone from Frontex headquarters in Warsaw. […] Frontex analysts so far have been unable to establish any links between the many smuggling groups.
Cooper said Islamic extremists in Libya are making life dangerous for smugglers and migrants alike. New visa requirements in Algeria for Syrians could also be forcing those fleeing the conflict there to look for escape routes closer to home.“
Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.
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