ROME, March 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Italian government declared a state of emergency across the whole country Wednesday to combat a growing influx of illegal immigrants.

"It is important to adopt urgent measures to face the presence of illegal aliens in the best way possible, resorting to imposing a state of emergency as proposed by Interior Minister (Claudio) Scajola," a government statement said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The Italian government earlier proclaimed a state of emergency in Sicily, two days after a ship containing around 1,000 Kurdish migrants landed on the island.

The measures give local authorities, notably police, increased powers to manage the problems brought on by mass arrivals of illegal immigrants.

No time limit has been set for the emergency measures.

The statement also outlined proposals to tighten up rules on asylum seekers. Italian ambassadors from countries where illegal immigrants to Italy have started out, would be called to Rome to discuss what measures to take.

The statement mentioned the possibility of economic sanctions but without naming any countries.

Italian authorities previously particularly picked out Turkey as a state not doing enough to combat illegal immigrants heading for Italian shores.

Turkish police on Thursday stopped 185 people planning to travel to Italy by boat, the Anatolia news agency reported.

"The increase in illegal immigration requires an immediate and coordinated response on a European level, involving all governments from the European Union," the statement added, calling for a joint strategy against countries where illegal immigrants start out.

Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said that the declaration of a state of emergency evidenced the lack of effective laws governing asylum seekers.

"No one has ever tackled this problem seriously," said Laura Boldrini, the agency's Rome representative.

The 928 Kurds, including 361 children, were on board a crippled ship that had sailed from Lebanon and was towed into Catania Monday.

The migrants were taken on a fleet of buses Tuesday to a military base near Bari in the Apulia region of southern Italy.

"A lot of them are going to ask for asylum," Boldrini said. "They have fled a situation of great instability and discrimination."

"The emergency welcome is working well," she added. "But where will they go afterwards? They can't take advantage of the national asylum plan, which has 2000 beds -- there's no more room."

UNHCR has long criticized Italy's asylum policy, which registers a yearly number of asylum grants that is far lower than the European average.

Because Italy stops all financial aid to immigrants after 45 days, it often acts merely as a gateway to Europe, the UNHCR has said.

The immigrants' arrival has sparked furious anger from the fiercely Eurosceptic Northern League, the right-wing party allied to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy's lower house of parliament began debating Tuesday on how to tighten existing immigration legislation. The new text has already been approved by the Senate.

But the leader of the Northern League, Umberto Bossi, who put forward the bill, said he was not satisfied and called for the migrants to be sent back to their home country.

The Italian authorities have already arranged a special meeting of E.U. interior ministers on May 30 in Rome to discuss the prickly issue and consider setting up a European border force.

More than 20,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Italy last year, and nearly 5,000 already arrived this year, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry.

The majority land in Sicily, or Reggio Calabria and Puglia, two southern Italian regions.

The large majority of illegal immigrants are Kurds from Turkey or Albanians. However, in the past few months many Sri Lankans have begun arriving in Italy, fleeing the war in their country.

Also Wednesday, Greek police said they broke up a people smuggling ring that transports immigrants from Albania to Italy.

They arrested three men from Greece, Iraq, and Algeria, while they were driving 50 Iraqi immigrants to Albania, police said.

And they are on the lookout for two other Iraqis and a Greek implicated in the ring, that charges people 600 euros for passage to Italy.

Italy, with a 4,720-mile (7,600-kilometre) coastline, is a popular target for asylum seekers, many using it as a gateway to Europe.