German newspaper confirms increasing influx of Turks to European countries

The German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" has obtained official figures showing an increase in the number of immigrants coming to the EU via Turkey, indicating that thousands of Turks are among them.

1 October, 2018 09:05

NEWS DESK

The German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" reported on its website that it obtained an internal report from the European Commission that the number of immigrants through Turkey has increased by up to 40% in the first nine months of 2018, compared to the same period of 2017.

The report registered that 39,000 migrants arrived in the European continent since the beginning of 2018. The vast majority of them took the road between Turkey and Greece to reach Europe, while a small percentage arrived via Bulgaria, Italy and Cyprus from Turkey.

According to the report, 4,500 Turks have left their countries to European countries among these immigrants who have taken from Turkey to migrate to the old continent, indicating that 6500 of the total refugees arrived in Germany during the same period as asylum seekers.

The European Union and Ankara signed in 2016 an agreement to give Brussels about $ 3 billion, on the basis that the Turkish authorities working to receive hostile migrants from Greece, where Brussels says that the agreement led to a significant reduction in the number of migrants crossing into Europe through Turkey, after it was dozens of thousands were crossing this road dropped the number has decreased to several hundred.

This year's large increase in the number of immigrants through Turkey has intensified the pressure on their accommodation centers in Greece, where there are currently 20,000, with a capacity of only 10,000.

According to European reports, the proportion of Turkish asylum seekers rose after the attempted coup in Turkey in July 2016, noting that about 30 thousand Turks have sought asylum in the European Union in the past two years.

Applications for asylum by Turkish citizens in European countries rose significantly in 2017, with some 14,000 applications filed in Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium and Greece. Most of these requests are related to persecution, involving opponents, activists and journalists.

H/S

ANHA