More than 20 migrants drown as boat capsizes near Turkey

One refugee was rescued by a fisherman and three more were rescued by the coastguard, which said it had deployed boats and helicopters to search for 13 more passengers.

Turkey, which is hosting at least 2.5 million refugees from Syria’s civil war, has become the main launchpad for migrants fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty to Europe.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was ready “if necessary” to let in Syrian refugees trapped on its border.

The governor of Kilis province, Suleyman Tapsiz, said that Turkey was taking care of the 30,000-plus refugees who had gathered around the nearby Syrian city of Azaz over the space of 48 hours.

The International Organization for Migration has tallied roughly 75,063 migrant and refugee arrivals by sea to Greece and Italy since January 1.

The latest sinking came as Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Ankara to discuss the migrant crisis with the Turkish government.

Mrs Merkel said 3 billion euros was being made available to Turkey by the European Union to improve refugees’ lives and they “have to see the benefits quickly”. “Conditions on the ground in the countries that are feeding the migrant crisis are largely unchanged, so we think the numbers will probably stay the same”.

“The Defence Ministry has undertaken a pledge to complete the work for the centres by the 15th (of February)”, Kammenos told reporters.

The army has been aided by massive Russian airpower and dozens of fighters from the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group as well as Iranian fighters.

In the first month of 2016, more than 52,000 people arrived by sea in Greece, according to the IOM; more than 200 have died off the Turkish coast.

Almost half of those who have arrived in Greece this year are from Syria, according to the IOM. Senior authorities in Ankara say they are working on new legal measures to ban human smuggling as an act of terror and organized crime.