Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced that discussions with the Turkish government are ongoing to return Turkish citizens whose asylum applications have been rejected to Turkey.
According to Deutsche Welle Turkish, Faeser responded to questions from members of the German parliament yesterday. “We are continuing our efforts to organize the first flights to Turkey,” said Faeser, adding, “I am confident that in the coming weeks, we will be able to announce success in this regard.”
Faeser stated that last year, many Turkish citizens came to Germany despite not being entitled to residence permits. She mentioned that most of these individuals first traveled to Serbia without a visa and then entered Germany via the Balkan route. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) minister pointed out that they are working on deporting these individuals and that negotiations with the Turkish government continue to reach an agreement.
At the end of September, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published a report claiming that Turkey had initially agreed to accept 500 Turkish citizens per week, starting with 200 individuals. Following the publication of this report, Interior Minister Faeser said, “We have reached the conclusion that deportations to Turkey can be carried out more quickly and efficiently and that Turkey will more rapidly accept its citizens who do not have residence permits in Germany.” However, the Turkish government denied the report.
Agreement Reached Between Erdoğan and Scholz
While responding to questions from members of the German parliament, Faeser also mentioned that an agreement had been reached between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. She noted that discussions regarding implementation are ongoing at this stage and added that the government’s goal is to reach the mentioned numbers. However, she did not provide specific information on how many people have been or will be deported.
Among the groups seeking asylum in Germany, Turkish citizens rank third after Syrians and Afghans. As of September 2024, 23,133 Turkish citizens had applied for asylum in Germany. There has been a significant drop in the acceptance rate of asylum applications from Turkish citizens, falling from 47.4% in 2019 to 9.6% in 2024.
The number of Turkish citizens without residence permits deported from Germany was recorded at 1,300 in 2023. As of the end of April this year, 14,500 Turkish citizens in the country were required to be deported.
