Growing number of Turkish citizens apply for asylum in Germany

Growing number of Turkish citizens apply for asylum in Germany
Growing number of Turkish citizens apply for asylum in Germany


Date posted: May 8, 2020

By Christina Goßner | EURACTIV.de | translated by Daniel Eck

Since the attempted coup in Turkey in summer 2016, the number of asylum applications by Turkish citizens in Germany has increased significantly. In 2019, Turkish asylum seekers were the third-most-registered group, after Syrians and Iraqis, according to the country’s agency for migration and refugees (BAMF). EURACTIV Germany reports.

“On the basis of the information available, we assume that the high number of asylum applications by Turkish citizens is also due to the political situation in Turkey,” the ministry of the interior, building and community (BMI) stated at the request of EURACTIV Germany.

According to BAMF figures for 2019, about a quarter of all Turkish asylum seekers were granted refugee protection because they were recognised as fugitives due to persecution, which is more often the case than for refugees coming from other countries.

As the number of asylum applications increases, so does the rate of protection. However, this does not apply to all asylum seekers.

Different rates of protection

“For many groups in Turkey, state persecution has intensified in recent years,” according to Wiebke Judith of the NGO PRO ASYL. While until 2015 it was mainly members of the Kurdish minority who applied for asylum in Germany, according to current figures from the BAMF, most asylum applications are now filed by non-Kurdish Turkish citizens.

Since the attempted coup in 2016, mostly journalists, academics, members of the opposition parties and (alleged) supporters of the Gülen movement, inspired by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is wanted by Turkey, have been persecuted and their applications for asylum are most frequently granted.

“This is due to the fact that all repressive measures against supporters of the Gülen movement in Turkey are documented in an accessible system,” Christopher Wohnig, who represents Turkish asylum seekers, told EURACTIV Germany.

In contrast, members of the Kurdish minority find it harder to prove persecution, which is why, according to the lawyer, the rate of positive asylum decisions for this group is significantly lower.

Many state officials have fled

Civil servants accused of being close to the Gülen movement have a particularly good chance of being recognised as refugees in Germany, says Wohnig. According to the country’s interior ministry, almost 2,000 holders of special civil servant passports applied for asylum by the end of last year, and more than 300 of them hold diplomatic passports.

However, an increase in asylum applications by Turkish citizens is not observed only in Germany. While in 2017, some 15,500 applications of Turkish citizens were registered throughout the EU, the following year, there were already about 23,000. Throughout the EU, Turkish nationals rank as the seventh biggest group of migrants.

Meanwhile, Europe is particularly concerned about the significant deterioration in the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in Turkey, particularly with basic procedural rights being suspended, as the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, noted in a report published in February this year.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

Source: EURACTIV , May 8, 2020


Related News

Pak-Turk schools won’t close, says Education Minister

“The government will neither close down Pak-Turk schools in the country nor will it hand them over to anyone,” announced the Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Baligh Ur Rehman. According to the minister, Pak-Turk schools are registered with the relevant Pakistani authorities and therefore, they will continue to operate in the country.

520 children of imprisoned mothers growing up in jail, yet Turkey celebrates Children’s Day

As Turkey celebrated the 97th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Parliament and Children’s Day on April 23, at least 520 children with imprisoned mothers have been deprived of enjoying the day as they are obliged to grow up in jail.

In Erdogan regime western-oriented intellectuals, bureaucrats, liberals, Kurds, civil society activists in mortal danger

Those in prison—educated, Western-oriented intellectuals and bureaucrats, liberals, Kurds, civil society activists, and supporters of exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen—are in mortal danger. When blood flows from the prisons, it will be no accident nor should anyone believe Erdogan’s security forces were simply reacting to a crisis.

Sudan arrests Gülen-linked businessman at Turkey’s request

Sudanese law enforcement detained Turkish businessman Memduh Çıkmaz at Ankara’s request as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement. Çıkmaz was detained in the capital city of Khartoum on Wednesday and denied request to meet his lawyer and family members.

Erdoğan Jails Hundreds of Babies in Paranoid Purge

When will the world pay heed to the humanitarian crisis on Erdoğan’s home turf that engulfs more innocent people by the day, even crying babies? Erdoğan’s paranoid purge of perceived political enemies has landed hundreds of babies and toddlers behind bars, sometimes arresting mothers on the very day they have given birth.

Turkey’s extradition adventure undermined Kosovan rule of law – Expert

Turkey’s operation to abduct six Turkish citizens from Kosovo last week reinforced the image of a country “acting outside the bounds of normal behaviour” for an EU candidate and NATO member country, according Freedom House project director Nate Schenkkan.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

‘A very good representative of the best in Islam, Hizmet contributes to the non-Muslim world’s understanding of Islam’

Gülen, Hizmet, the state and the AKP

Turkish Schools In Somalia

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Gülen-linked teachers, businessman detained in Afghanistan

Fethullah Gulen Issues Strong Condemnation of ISIS

Turkish people’s aid reaches out to Chad through Kimse Yok Mu

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News