Agreement with Ankara
Berlin deports thousands of asylum seekers to Turkey
September 27, 2024, 12:25 p.m
More than ten thousand people from Turkey are expected to leave Germany again. After long negotiations, Berlin and Ankara have now reached an agreement. In the future, up to 500 people are to be deported every week. The talks were, among other things, about finding a face-saving solution for Turkey.
Germany begins deporting rejected asylum seekers back to Turkey. This was preceded by months of negotiations between Ankara and Berlin, as the “Frankfurter Allgemeine” reported, citing government circles. Preparations are currently underway to fly up to 500 people out every week. A total of 13,500 Turks are required to leave the country. Last year, 871 people were deported.
It is also said that the number of people who came to Germany from Turkey increased significantly last year due to the poor economic situation in their homeland. The re-election of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also led to an increase. As a result, Turkey climbed to second place among the countries of origin behind Syria. The numbers have now fallen again. However, according to the report, the protection rate was only 13 percent.
According to the report, the majority of Turks who are required to leave the country currently have a tolerated stay – in many cases because they lack valid papers. It is said that Ankara has now signaled significantly more willingness to cooperate here. In addition, an agreement was also reached in another tricky area: for image reasons, Turkey has so far refused charter flights with deported compatriots. For this reason, deportations were only possible with scheduled flights, although their capacities are limited. Now the flights taking place specifically for repatriations would officially be called “special flights”. Ankara can live with that.
In return for the now accelerated deportation, the federal government is said to have promised to process visa applications more quickly, it was said. Ankara wants to continue visa freedom in the long term. In addition, a change in the responsible ministry in Türkiye has noticeably accelerated many previously slow processes.