Migration Home Office pays £3m to Turkey to prevent arrivals in the UK

The Home Office has provided more than £3m to Turkish border forces in the last year to prevent migrants reaching the UK, an investigation for the Guardian has found.

-  Nicola Kelly

According to documents obtained through freedom of information requests, funding to Turkey's border force operations has increased substantially from 2019, when £14,000 was given to Turkish police and coastguard for maritime border security training. That figure rose to £425,000 in 2021-22 for training and equipment and up to £3m this year for "return and reintegration assistance", training and personnel.

The funding was diverted from the overseas development assistance (ODA) budget and delivered through Home Office International Operations, part of the department's Intelligence Directorate.

In addition to funding, the Home Office has also supplied Turkish border forces, including the national police and the coastguard, with equipment and training. In June 2022, nine vehicles were handed over by the UK's deputy high commissioner to the Turkish national police on the border with Iran.

Last year, Turkey said it "turned back" 238,448 migrants at its eastern border with Iran. Video evidence seen by the Guardian shows cases of extreme violence and force used against Afghan migrants attempting to cross the border into Turkey. This includes the authorities firing live rounds and pushing people back to the other side of the border.