Around 10 Thousand Turks Applied for Asylum in Germany This Year

The number of Turkish citizens seeking refuge in Germany has risen to nine thousand 138 in the first 10 months of 2018, with an addition of two thousand 286 more people compared to the same period last year, Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish reported on Thursday.

According to the DW report attributed data released on Wednesday by the German Ministry of Interior, around one third of the asylum applications evaluated this year were approved.

The total number of asylum applicants in Germany between January and October 2018 is 158 thousand 512. Turks ranked sixth, while Syrians topped the list of asylum seekers with 39 thousand 324 individuals, followed by Iraqis, Afghans, Nigerians and Iranians.

According to the October figures, on the other hand, people from Turkey were in the fourth spot, after Syrians, Iranians and Iraqis, respectively. Out of the 14 thousand 800 people, who applied in October to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), one thousand 206 were Turkish.

The number of Turks who applied in August is reported as one thousand 243 and one thousand 93 in September.

33,9 percent of a total of 186 thousand 886 asylum applicants were either granted refugee status or deportation ban, allowing them to stay in the country.

It was pointed out in the report that there was a reduction in the number of asylum seekers, who received refugee status, between January and October, compared to last year’s 43.3 percent.

The German government denied 65 thousand 303 people’s application in the same period, which corresponds to 35 percent.

Turkey has launched a nation-wide crackdown on the dissident, following the failed military coup attempt aiming to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 15, 2016, which resulted in the death of more than 200 civilians.

Erdogan held Turkish-Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who has been living in self-exile in the U.S., and his supporters responsible for the coup attempt, a claim the group denies.

Thousands of academics, journalists, judges, prosecutors, police officers, teachers and public servants were discharged and prosecuted for their alleged affiliation with the Gulen group.

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