Turkish citizens' asylum applications to Germany increase in first two months of 2024 amid overall decline

Duvar English

Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) on March 7 released its regular report on asylum applications. Data showed a 12.3 percent increase in the number of applications from Turkey for the first two months of 2024 compared to last year.

Some 6,809 Turkish citizens had applied for German asylum in the first two months of 2023. The number has increased to 7,649 this year. 

According to reporting by Deutsche Welle Turkey, Turkey was the third on the list with 7.649 applications, following Syria and Afghanistan. However, applications from Syria and Afghanistan have declined by respectively 13 and 39 percent since last year. These three countries constituted 60 percent of all asylum applications. 

Germany had received 54,333 first-time applications in the first two months of 2023. This year, the number decreased by 13 percent to 47,090. 

BAMF data showed that 45 percent of the applications were accepted. The acceptance rate was much lower for Turkish applicants at 7.8 percent. 

In comparison, 86.5 percent of applications from Syria and 67.1 percent from Afghanistan were accepted. 

Upon an in-person application, the BAMF assesses whether an asylum applicant is at risk of persecution in their country of origin, or whether their life or liberty is at risk to make a decision. 

In 2023, 62.624 Turkish nationals applied for German asylum. Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, Nikolaus Meyer Landrut, stated that Turkish visa holders were more likely to seek asylum in recent years.

He noted multiple cases where Turkish students on the Erasmus study abroad program applied for asylum when their visas expired.