ISTANBUL, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is facing an influx of refugees from Afghanistan fleeing escalating violence and turmoil in their homeland following the withdrawal of American forces.

"The number of Afghans crossing the Iranian border has significantly increased since mid-May, and there is no sign in sight that the number will drop," Mahmut Bozarslan, a veteran local journalist from Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakir, told Xinhua.

Bozarslan's home stands a mere 200 meters away from the migrant trail of Afghans who are dispatched afterwards by buses to Turkey's western cities, where they hope to find illegal menial jobs.

"I have a clear view from my window of people passing by daily. The groups of Afghans consist of 99 percent of young men between the ages of 16 and 30, so we can therefore assume that they are fleeing the war," the journalist said.

Video footage recently surfaced on social media showed thousands of Afghan migrants crossing the mountains on the Iranian border to enter Turkey.

"I used to see groups of five to 10 people earlier, but I have noticed that they have doubled in numbers since May," Bozarslan said.

After crossing the border, they either walk for several days or take buses to reach Diyarbakir, around 350 km away.

Their journey is perilous and sometimes lethal.

On Sunday, 12 undocumented Afghan, Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants, were killed and 26 others were injured after a minibus carrying illegal refugees crashed in Van province, bordering Iran.

In July 2020, at least 60 Afghans were killed when a boat carrying undocumented migrants sank in Lake Van.

An estimated 400,000 Afghan refugees are already living in Turkey, according to refugee activists. They are believed to be the second-largest community of refugees in the country after Syrians.

Since the announcement of the U.S. retreat from Afghanistan in April, the Taliban has made considerable gains, capturing dozens of districts across Afghanistan. As a result, young Afghan men are reportedly seeking refuge in neighboring countries, according to refugee experts.

"We can't speak for now of a mass exodus, but there is an increase in the number of single and young Afghan men leaving their homeland and fleeing to neighboring countries, including Turkey," said Metin Corabatir, the head of an Ankara-based migration studies center.

"The security situation was already strained during the U.S. military presence, but it has gotten worse, prompting these people to leave their country," he said during a television interview.

Corabatir added that civil servants, high-ranking officials, and students were also seeking to leave Afghanistan. Enditem

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