About a thousand diplomats and civil servants from Turkey are among 15,654 persons seeking asylum in Germany, since the failed coup of the state in 2016.
The German Federal Bureau for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) reports that from 2016 to early March 2018, 288 Turkish citizens with diplomatic passports and 771 with "green passports" (passport service) requested asylum in Germany.
In these figures are include the children of asylum seekers, BAMF reported. Meanwhile, according to BAMF, these figures do not include Turkish soldiers who have deserted, escaped and sought asylum in Germany.Following a coup attempt in July 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suspended or fired nearly 150,000 civil servants and imprisoned nearly 50,000, under the accusation of followers of the preacher, Fethulah Gülen, whom he also makes responsible for the failed coup of the state.
Therefore Ankara wants their return to Turkey and for Europe to deport the Turkish asylum seekers suspected of being linked to Kurdish militants.
Increased demands of Turkish citizens for asylum
The number of Turks seeking asylum in Germany since 2016 has reached 15,654. Last year the asylum application made some 8,500 Turkish citizens, while in 2016 this figure was 5,700 people. By the end of February this year, asylum applications have reached more than 1,400 Turkish citizens.
The number of applications approved increased in 2017 from eight to 28 percent, and by March 2018 increased by 42 percent of those seeking residence in Germany, BAMF said.
Afraid of spying
The 43-year-old Murat T, a Turkish lawmaker who fled from Turkey after six months in Turkish detention, told the German news agency DPA that he and his wife avoided "the Turkish community, who has been living here [in Germany] because they are not sure if we can deal with someone who spies on [the Turkish] government."
The Turkish lawyer said he assumes that some of the three million Turks living in Germany are manipulated by Turkish media and "they seem to believe every word of Erdogan." Even a Turkish entrepreneur, Selina, 40, told DPA that she is afraid of spying. According to her, in Turkey, she and her family has been spied by some old friends who had denounced them as Gülen's supporters.