IEA, Turkey officials discuss boosting Kabul–Ankara relations

Saniullah Farhamand, the Islamic Emirate’s ambassador to Turkey, met on Friday with Mehmet Aktaş, Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Interior, to discuss the expansion of relations between Kabul and Ankara.

The Afghan Embassy in Turkey said in a statement that Farhamand and Aktaş, during this meeting, discussed bilateral cooperation in political, cultural, and consular fields, as well as issues related to Afghan migrants residing in Turkey.

Turkey is one of the countries that maintains close relations with the Islamic Emirate. It has also mediated alongside Qatar in efforts to resolve tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, hosting two rounds of negotiations between Afghan and Pakistani delegations.

Meanwhile, analysts consider the increased diplomatic cooperation between Kabul and Ankara important for expanding interactions between the two countries.

This meeting comes at a time when Turkey has recently intensified the detention of Afghan refugees and their transfer back to Afghanistan.

In the latest incident, Turkish media reported that the country’s coast guard detained 24 Afghan refugees, including 15 children, and sent them to a foreign nationals’ return center for transfer to Afghanistan.

The Turkish Coast Guard said these individuals were identified in a dangerous inflatable boat off the coast of Ayvacık as they attempted to travel illegally to Europe.

Recently, Turkey’s Ministry of Interior announced that from January to October of this year, 30,099 Afghan refugees had been identified and detained in various cities across the country.

Turkey has also closed irregular migration routes to Europe and does not permit undocumented migrants to leave through illegal pathways.