Germany wants to step up expulsions of rejected Turkish asylum seekers

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Germany and Turkey have agreed on a plan under which Berlin will significantly step up expulsions of rejected Turkish asylum seekers, the interior minister announced on Friday.

“We have now reached a point where returns to Turkey can be carried out more quickly and efficiently and where Turkey will more quickly take back citizens who are not allowed to stay in Germany,” said Interior Minister Nancy. Faeser in a press release on X.

“This is another essential element to limit irregular migration,” she added.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) daily reported that Turkey had offered to repatriate up to 500 citizens per week in the near future on “special flights”.

In return, Germany would relax visa rules for Turkish citizens wishing to visit the EU country for vacation or business trips, he added.

The FAZ report said the plan was agreed after months of negotiations between the offices of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Contacted by AFP, the German Interior Ministry refused to officially comment on the details of this information.

The move comes at a time of heated debate over irregular immigration in Germany and other EU member states.

Germany’s relations are sensitive with Turkey, another NATO member and home to Europe’s largest Turkish diaspora, around three million people.

Many of them are part of the wave of “guest workers” invited to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, along with their descendants.

The Scholz government is under increased pressure after a series of violent crimes and extremist attacks by asylum seekers.

The debate fueled the rise of the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party a year before national elections.

The FAZ said the first 200 Turkish citizens will be flown to Turkey on several scheduled flights from several airports.

Beyond that, he said Turkey had offered to bring back up to 500 citizens per week from Germany on what would be declared “special flights” rather than charter flights.

The daily reports that the number of Turkish asylum applications in Germany increased sharply last year, with most applicants declaring themselves members of the Kurdish minority.

This year, Turkish citizens accounted for the third highest number of asylum applications, after those from Syria and Afghanistan.

However, only a small minority of recent applications from Turkish nationals have been successful.

According to the German Interior Ministry, the number of Turkish nationals in Germany forced to leave the country has exceeded 15,000.

However, fewer than 900 people were deported last year and thousands were granted a stay of deportation, often because they said they did not have valid travel documents, the FAZ said.

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