Erdogan denies agreement
Berlin and Ankara disagree on deportation deal
September 28, 2024, 4:00 p.m
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The statements from Berlin and Ankara contradict each other: After a negotiated agreement, Germany expects further deportations to Turkey. But Ankara denies an agreement. According to diplomatic circles, Turkey should block the return of Turks who are obliged to leave the country.
Germany expects further deportations after the first newly negotiated expulsions of Turkish citizens to Turkey. The federal government is also in ongoing discussions with Turkey about migration policy issues – “including in the area of return cooperation,” said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior. On Friday it became known that Germany had begun newly negotiated deportations to Turkey. Initially, a total of 200 Turks are to be brought to Turkey. This concerns Turks who are obliged to leave the country.
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan immediately denied media reports of mass expulsions. Erdoğan’s Communications Directorate made it clear on Platform
A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry emphasized that no mass deportations of its own citizens had been approved. The topic was also not on the agenda at a meeting between Erdoğan and Chancellor Olaf Scholz in New York on September 23, said spokesman Öncü Keçeli.
In response to these statements, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser’s spokesman also said: “The federal government is talking intensively with countries of origin about improving return cooperation.” Turkey is a very important partner for Germany in all of these issues. Given the general diplomatic importance of such negotiations, the spokesman asked for understanding that “the details of these discussions are confidential.”
Large-scale deportations?
According to information from Berlin, the repatriation of Turks will gradually be processed decentrally via scheduled flights. The first such flights were completed. The federal states are involved, for example, in obtaining the necessary papers. Bilateral agreements on repatriation often cover practical issues such as the issuance of identification documents by the country of origin. “We have now achieved that returns to Turkey can be carried out more quickly and effectively and that Turkey can take back citizens who are not allowed to stay in Germany more quickly,” Faeser told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Observers are raising the question of whether the returns to Turkey will now involve large-scale deportations. In the past year, more and more asylum seekers came from Turkey. However, deportations to the partner country are sensitive because of its geopolitical role. According to experts and government sources, deportations in general often have a long lead time and are based on complicated agreements.
According to information from diplomatic circles, Turkey is currently blocking the return of Turks who are obliged to leave the country. Legal concerns should be cited. Almost 1,300 Turkish citizens were deported from Germany in 2023. At the end of April 2024, around 14,500 Turks in Germany were required to leave the country. It was initially unclear whether the agreement also included concessions to Ankara.
Pressure on the traffic light government
Turkey has long been insisting on visa facilitation for its citizens. However, between 2018 and 2023, more visas were only granted to people from China, the most populous country in the world. In the first five months of this year alone, Germany issued almost 16,000 national visas for Turkish applicants. In 2019 it was less than half during the same period.
Deportations are often controversial – including to Turkey. The country is currently in third place on the list of the most important countries of origin for asylum seekers. In the first eight months of this year, 21,590 Turkish citizens applied for asylum in Germany. According to asylum experts, the fact that more Turks are now coming also has to do with the consequences of the devastating earthquake of 2023.
The traffic light government is under pressure to deport more people, especially in the election campaigns. Scholz announced that he wanted to deport people “on a large scale”. The refugee rights organization Pro Asyl criticized the course as “irresponsible”. The government in Ankara has been criticized for the human rights situation and harsh measures against political opponents. According to Pro Asyl, most Turkish asylum seekers in Germany are Kurds.
