Lake turns into graveyard for migrants in Turkey

A lake in Turkey has become a death trap for Afghan, Pakistani and other migrants seeking security and work.

All that Lake Van, a vast body of water nearly seven times the size of Lake Geneva, now speaks of are gravestones scribbled with identity numbers are all that remain of dozens of migrants aboard a boat that sank in a Turkish lake as they struggled to make it to Europe.

The sinking of two boats in June and December, claiming 68 lives in all, underscores the perils of a route used to circumnavigate checkpoints set up across the rugged eastern terrain of Turkey, not far from Iran.

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Turkey, which offered fast-track access to Europe during the 2015 migrant crisis, has become an increasingly difficult country to cross.

The first move to cut the flow of migrants came after Ankara and Brussels signed a migration deal in 2016, but the measures were stepped up from 2018 against the backdrop of an economic crisis in Turkey.

The country is already home to around four million migrants, 3.6 million of them from war-torn Syria.

Before reaching the lake, the migrants must often cross perilous border mountains. Every year, villagers discover frozen bodies after the snow melts.

In Van Province, which borders Iran, two cemeteries were set up to bury migrants who could not be identified.

In one, there were freshly dug graves, awaiting the next victims.

When the weather is pleasant, the lake appears harmless.

Families have picnics on wooden tables while watching others wobble on their paddleboards, as a local municipality official cleans the promenade.

But its unpredictable waters leave little chance for small, flimsy boats.

After the fatal June accident, security services detained several smugglers. Since then, migrants and residents say that crossings by lake, which had been staged almost daily before then, have fallen sharply.

Migrants who cannot find a boat are forced to walk for days under the blazing sun, cutting across fields to get around checkpoints.

They have applied for refugee status in order to travel to Europe, and now cling on to this slim chance.