Lawyer Azad Öztürk who has been working on criminal cases concerning refugees in Muğla, Bodrum for a long time, recalled that the refugees have been seeking refuge in Turkey due to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.Pointing out that unsafe and illegal roads are preferred to go to different countries throughout the Aegean region, Öztürk said that many refugees who use Bodrum as a corridor have lost their lives. He said that since 2015, there have been around 2,500 deaths in the Aegean Sea, including women and children, according to the files he has been working on and the records of the police.

 

Sharing information that about 300 refugee died  in the last year, Öztürk said that approximately 900 refugees have been arrested in the last three months. Öztürk, who also prepared and presented the dangerous journey of the refugees, said: "In the files,we see that the smugglers get 3-5 euros per passenger. Of course, it turned out that there were many law enforcement officers in the files, except the taxi drivers and those who coordinated the relations. When these files are examined, they are hidden from the public by ordering a confidentiality decision. It has turned into a gate for unearned income for this region. Both by the refugee smugglers and by law enforcement officers who abuse this process. This includes coast guard personnel, gendarmerie personnel. But many of the  people that  have been identified  are in law enforcement agencies working the coast  and at the anti smuggling and organized crime department . Some of their indictments have already been prepared and others have been concluded. As a result, it is a material fact that there are no deterrent penalties. ”