"The boat, which was slashed and its petrol was confiscated by Greek soldiers, was pushed back into Turkish territorial waters. Our teams rescued 35 irregular migrants while the search for 4 missing irregular migrants was continuing,” the statement said.

Turkey has traditionally been a major transit port for irregular immigrants to enter the European countries.

According to the official reports, 454,662 irregular migrants held across the country in 2019. (ILKHA)