After months of negotiations, the German government has begun deporting Turkish citizens back to their homeland.
Initially, 200 people will be put on the planes, reported the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". The flights with the rejected asylum seekers depart from various German airports. According to media reports, this is just the beginning, and Ankara has agreed to accept up to 500 of its citizens per week.
"Great progress"
Deportations will be carried out by regular flights, Turkey refuses to do this with charters. However, it seems that Ankara is ready to accept such flights in the future if they are called "special".
"We have reached an agreement that the return to Turkey will be faster and more efficient and that Turkey will more quickly accept back its citizens who are not allowed to stay in Germany," German Interior Minister Nancy Feiser commented in an interview. She described the decision as "great progress" and "another building block in curbing illegal migration".
Over 15,000 Turkish citizens do not have the right to stay in Germany
Unlike previous migration agreements reached by Germany with, for example, Uzbekistan and Kenya, the return to Turkey foresees significantly more mass deportations. In response to an inquiry by "Alternative for Germany" in March, the German government responded that almost 1,300 Turkish citizens had been deported in 2023. A total of over 15,500 Turkish citizens have been refused asylum and must leave Germany, writes "Handelsblatt".
The Federal Migration Service has already decided on 28,492 asylum applications of Turkish citizens this year. This is the third largest number after Syria and Afghanistan. Those who received asylum are 9.6 percent.
Until now, many of the Turks who had to leave Germany enjoyed the status of "tolerated stay" because they did not have valid documents. According to media reports on the subject, the Turkish government has now expressed its willingness to cooperate. Therefore, in the future, all consulates general of Turkey in Germany will be authorized to issue replacement documents.
Part of the new EU migration strategy
The breakthrough on the subject was apparently achieved during the visit of Turkish President Erdogan to German Chancellor Scholz in November 2023 in Berlin, commented "Handelsblatt". In exchange for speeding up deportations, the German government is believed to have promised to process visa applications more quickly.
In order for Germany to protect those fleeing wars and terrorism, "people who do not need protection must leave our country much faster,", according to Interior Minister Feser. She also commented on the new European pact on migration and asylum, which was approved earlier in the year. The new common asylum system will ensure the protection of the EU's external borders and more fairly distribute the responsibility for refugees in Europe, the German foreign minister believes. This will ease the burden on local authorities in Germany, commented Nancy Feiser.
Alexander Detev (editor)