Dramatical Increase in Number of People in Turkey Requesting Asylum from Germany

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Germany's Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) announced on Sunday (April 1) that 288 diplomatic passport holders and 771 green (civil service) passport holders from Turkey requested asylum in Germany between 2016 and early March 2018. BAMF also added that the announced number did not include the asylum-seeking soldiers from Turkey.

Deutsche Welle has reported that between the year 2016 and early March 2018, 15,654 people from Turkey sought asylum in Germany. While approximately 5,700 people made an asylum application to Germany in 2016, this number increased to 8,500 in 2017. As for the first two months of 2018, the figures published by BAMF have shown that 1,400 asylum requests were made during this period.

Taken together, the data has demonstrated that the number of people in Turkey requesting asylum from Germany in 2017 has increased five times in comparison with 2015 and the number of applications made in 2018 has been continuing at an unprecedented pace.

The figures announced by BAMF have also shown that the rates of approved asylum requests increased from 8 percent in 2016 and 28 percent in 2017 to 42 percent in the first two months of 2018, pointing to a similarly unprecedented increase in the number of approved asylum requests.

Topel: "A political sea-change inside Turkey is not evident"

Speaking to Deutsche Welle about the issue, two journalists from Germany, Hüseyin Topel and Fatih Aktürk have stated that asylum applicants were assisted across Germany by a diverse network of individuals, both with origins of Turkey and Germany.

Topel has also said that despite Turkey's recent release of Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yücel, a political sea-change inside Turkey is not evident. Topel has added: "Whoever comments critically about the government or government members [of Turkey] is branded as a national traitor." (ŞA/SD)