Security forces in Turkey arrested nearly 500 people trying to cross the border from Syria on Saturday, AFP reported.
“488 people were detained by the land forces command border units while trying to cross into Turkey from Syria and 26 while attempting to cross into Syria from Turkey,” the Turkish army said in a statement on its website.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has championed Turkey’s “open-door” policy for migrants, under which the country has taken in 1.8 million Syrian refugees since the conflict began in 2011.
Several hundred thousand refugees are sheltered in camps along the border with Syria but the vast majority of them are scattered throughout the country including the mega city Istanbul, AFP reported.
