NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IRANIAN, TURKISH IMMIGRANTS IN BOSNIA INCREASING

SARAJEVO, July 1 (Hina) - The Bosnia-Herzegovina state border service, whose members took over the control of Sarajevo airport in early June, have registered a large number of arrivals from Iran and Turkey, of whom only a small part have left the country legally. Douglas Coffman, spokesman for the U.N. Mission in Bosnia, told reporters in Sarajevo last Thursday this pointed to a growing problem of illegal immigration and smuggling of humans. According to data provided by the state border service, 1,298 Iranians with return tickets have arrived at Sarajevo airport since early June and only 116 of them left Bosnia-Herzegovina via Sarajevo airport. In the same period, 1,255 Turkish nationals arrived in Bosnia and only 513 returned to Turkey. Coffman said there was reason to believe that the majority of 'missing' Iranians and Turkish citizens (mostly Kurds) tried to illegally enter Croatia and travel further to the West. According to data provided by the U.N. Mission, during June, police officers from Bosnia's two entities arrested several hundred illegal immigrants while they were attempting to cross the state border. Coffman said the U.N. Mission believed the number of illegal immigrants was much higher. UNHCR spokeswoman Barbara Smith said the UNHCR and local authorities were working on the adoption of an asylum law which would regulate the protection of persons who are persecuted because of their political or other beliefs. This would help solve at least part of problems related to illegal immigration, she said. It is assumed that most of those trying to enter western European countries via Bosnia-Herzegovina are economic immigrants, to whom asylum regulations do not refer. (hina) rml