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The number of Turkish citizens seeking asylum in the EU countries, Switzerland and Norway increased by 82 percent in 2023 over the previous year, while there was a noticeable decrease in the number of Turks who were granted asylum, according to the most recent report from the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA).
The EUAA released its “Latest Asylum Trends 2023” report on Wednesday.
Asylum applications lodged by Turks in the first half of 2023 in EU countries, Switzerland and Norway made up 9 percent of all applications filed in these countries, with 100,807. It was 55,446 in 2022, 23,764 in 2021 and 15,834 in 2020.
The approval rate in asylum applications from Turkish citizens in EU countries, Switzerland and Norway, however, dropped to 23 percent in 2023 when applicants were given “refugee status,” while 75 percent of the applications were rejected and 1 percent of applicants were given subsidiary protection.
EUAA statistics show a downward trend in the approval rate of asylum applications from Turkish citizens over the past years, which was 37 percent in 2022, 41 percent in 2021 and 45 percent in 2020.
Since 2015 the highest rate of approval of asylum applications from Turkish citizens in EU countries, Switzerland and Norway was in 2019 with 53 percent.
In 2023 Turkish citizens filed the most applications in Germany, where there is already a Turkish diaspora of more than 3 million people, with 61,599 applications, which was followed by France with 12,373 and Austria with 7,743 applications.
Since a failed coup in 2016 that led to a widespread crackdown on dissent by the Turkish government, the number of Turkish nationals seeking asylum in Germany and other Western European countries has seen a significant increase.
An ongoing economic crisis in the country caused by skyrocketing inflation, which stands at 65 percent, and the constant depreciation of the Turkish lira is also prompting some Turks to seek ways to leave the country for a better life in Europe. Turks who seek asylum in other countries for economic reasons apparently are rejected since economic problems are not a reason to be granted asylum, while the risk of political persecution is.
Rise in asylum applications continues
According to the key findings in the report, the EU, Norway and Switzerland received 1.1 million asylum applications in 2023, up by 18 percent compared to 2022 and a level reminiscent of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis.
Syrians continued to lodge by far the most applications in 2023, up by 38 percent over 2022.
In 2023, Germany maintained its position as the destination of choice for asylum seekers in the EU countries, Norway and Switzerland, receiving very nearly a third of all applications lodged in the region.
At the end of 2023 there were more cases pending at first instance (883,000) than at any other point since 2016, amid the refugee crisis of 2015-16.
There were some 4.4 million beneficiaries of temporary protection in the EU, Switzerland and Norway who fled Ukraine following Russia’s invasion by the end 2023. Notably, Czechia hosted the most beneficiaries per capita, followed by Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland.