ISTANBUL, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Illegal migrants have been trying to cross the Aegean Sea in an attempt to reach Greek islands from Turkey, despite warnings about danger.
During the last three days, the Turkish coast guard teams apprehended 177 migrants either stranded in a risky situation on the sea or pushed back to Turkish waters by Greek coast guard teams, the force said on its website Wednesday.
The coast guard earlier announced that migrants would not be allowed to cross the Aegean Sea upon the order of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, noting that the journey on the sea route would be "dangerous."
"Expecting a better life in Europe, illegal migrants are mostly trying to sneak into the Greek islands of Samos, Symi, Chios and Lesbos, via the Aegean, despite warnings," Mustafa Aydogan, director of the Ankara-based Bosphorus Center for Asian Studies, told Xinhua.
"It is not always possible to convince someone not to cross the sea when he is so determined and hopeful," he noted.
Besides inflatable boats and hard weather conditions that jeopardize their lives, the Greek coast guards also push them back in dangerous positions on the sea, according to the director.
In Aydogan's view, the intervention of the Greek forces in Turkey's northwestern border province of Edirne also frightened the refugees, making it less hopeful to successfully cross to Europe over the land.
"Therefore, once again, they started to prefer to push the European borders through the Aegean Sea," he continued.
The Aegean Sea was once the main route for migrants trying to enter Europe from Turkey. A deal was signed between Ankara and the European Union in March 2016 to curb the flow of illegal immigration.
As part of the agreement, Turkish authorities had stopped a total of 60,802 illegal immigrants from reaching Greece via Turkey last year, according to figures released by the Turkish coast guard.
On Feb. 28, Turkey said that it would no longer stop illegal immigrants from going to Europe, noting that it could not cope with the burden of over 3.7 million refugees in its territory.
Since Turkey's announcement, thousands of refugees have been continuously flocking to Edirne to cross the border via land routes or the Evros River.
Turkish authorities claimed that over 150,000 refugees have so far crossed the border from Edirne to Greece.
