Greece, Turkey tackle illegal immigrant issue
Senior Greek and Turkish officials met in Athens yesterday to discuss ways of tackling the rising tide of illegal immigrants passing between the two countries in a global racket worth around 27 billion dollars (18.54 billion euros) per year. Rear Admiral Can Erenoglu, commander of the Turkish coast guard, said that Ankara is working on confidence-building measures with Greece over the sensitive issue. «We are aware that illegal immigrants influence ties between us as it is also a security issue,» he said after meeting with Merchant Marine Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis. According to Erenoglu, there are 30 million illegal immigrants trafficked worldwide per year in an industry worth some 27 billion dollars.
