Syrians in Germany

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Syrians in Germany
Syrer in Deutschland
Total population
843,000[1] (1.03% of the total population)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Berlin, Frankfurt, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart
Languages
Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish, Neo-Aramaic, German
Religion
Majority Sunni Islam, minorities Twelver Shia, Alevism, Alawites, Sufism, Isma'ilism
Christianity (mainly Syriac Orthodox Church, minorities Eastern Catholic Churches, Oriental Orthodoxy)
Druze[3]

Syrians in Germany refers to Syrian immigrants in Germany or Germans with Syrian ancestry. The number of Syrians in Germany is estimated at around 800,000 people in March 2021, making it the third largest community of foreign nationals (after Turks and Poles).[4] The population consists mainly of refugees of the Syrian Civil War, which began in the 2010s.[5] The total number of people in Germany with Syrian roots (including non-Syrian nationals) was just over 1 million.[6]

Between 2008 and 2015, the number of employees in companies that were migrants grew by 50%.[7] Some other sources claim 200,000 estimated Syrian citizens to reside within Germany as of September 2015.[8] Among German districts, Bonn and Wiesbaden had the highest shares of Syrian migrants in 2011, according to German Census data.[9] In 2018, Germany granted 72% of Syrian refugees protection for the right to work without any setbacks or restrictions.[7]

Migration history[]

During the European migrant crisis of 2014-2015, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees of the Syrian Civil War entered Germany to seek refugee status. The European migrant crisis was eased on September 4th, 2015, by Chancellor Werner Faymann of Austria and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. They announced that migrants would be allowed to cross the border from Hungary into Austria and onward to Germany. Early morning on September 5th, 2015, buses with migrants began crossing the Austro-Hungarian border.[10][11]

As of December 31st, 2014, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany estimated that there were 118,196 people with Syrian citizenship in Germany.[12] According to the German Interior Ministry, between January 2015 and October 2015, there were 243,721 Syrian citizens who entered Germany to seek asylum.[13] Therefore, there were more than 360,000 Syrian citizens residing in Germany as of October 2015. As of 31 December 2016, the total number of Syrians in Germany reached 637,845.[2]

In 2015, Germany's peak number of asylum applicants was 890,000; however, the trend began to reverse. In 2018, only 185,000 Syrians applied for asylum in Germany. Despite the heavy drop in applications, deportations nearly doubled to 20,000 a year, marking a shifting sentiment among the German people away from the welcoming culture that brought thousands of Syrians to Germany since 2015.[14] The changing sentiments among German leaders and citizens towards Syrian refugees comes in light of an increasingly right-wing Parliament. In the 2017 elections, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party gained seats, bringing far right opposition to immigration to the national stage.[15]

Of 740,000+ Syrians living in Germany, under 1,000 of them voluntarily agreed to return to Syria in 2018. Due to this extremely low rate of return to Syria, there is growing concern amongst Syrian refugees that once the volunteers and criminals are deported from the country, the idea of deportations will be normalized. Some Syrians believe this normalization will lead to a larger wave of deportations that will negatively effect people who can't speak German, don't contribute to the economy, and are unable to fully adapt to the German culture.[16] A large part of the resistance to return to Syria is the ongoing war and Bashar Al-Assad's rule of majority of the country.[16]

Return of Syrian Refugees[]

Bashar Al-Assad is the 19th President of Syria and has been in leadership since 2000. He represents and is the regional secretary of the Arab Socialist Baath Party in Syria. He is the commander in chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and states publicly that the millions of citizens fleeing Syria are blocked from coming back.[17]

In Syria, more than 500,000 people have been killed or gone missing, roughly 387,118 documented deaths and 205,300 people missing and presumed dead.[18] The Syrian government is responsible for 156,329 deaths alluding to the danger and fear Syrian refugees have to return to their home country or reunite with their family members. Germany falls under the top ten European countries for asylum applications as refugees are seeking freedom from the Syrian government, Kurdish forces, Turkish military, Syrian rebels, Islamic State group, and Jihadist forces.[18]

Syrian refugees travel to Germany seeking safety and community and do not intend on returning to Syria unless the war is resolved and the various religious groups in Syria reconcile.[19] According to a survey regarding violence and the return of refugees, 18 refugee candidates from different areas of Syria have different perspectives. While 90% of Syrians indicate they are interested in returning to Syria, they believe these conditions need to be resolved first. 88% of candidates were from neighborhoods that were shelled, 92% felt threatened by the armed combat, and 88% had at least one family member or friend who was arrested, injured, or killed.[19] Refugees are also concerned of solidarity as they must prioritize returning or relocating to a new country with their whole family. Some Syrians leave Syria with no intention of returning and are focused on attaining a European passport rather than fleeing from danger and violence.[19]

The Syrian Refugee Crisis was the result of the Turkish government attempting to alter and renovate their immigration system, so that it would reach the international standards, such as the European Union’s. The reforms that were made during this transformation had affected the way Turkish authorities had delt with the situation. They could not manage the inflow of Syrians and this resulted with the problem being left at the will of national organizations working the ground, in camps, without larger policy guidance.[20] In the intervening time, formal immigration channels continued to be circumscribed to Europeans while non-Europeans obtained momentary protection prestige and are anticipated to be assigned to be resettled in a third country.[20]

Originally, the arrival of Syrian refugees arriving in Turkey was moderately small. The crisis started in April 2011 when the Syrian government halted all anti-government protests. They used lethal force to dissipate the crowds, unaffected by the damage they dealt. By mid-summer of 2011, around 15,000 Syrians had left the city in search of shelter and they resided at the Syrian border in Hatay Province.[20] They inhabited in tent cities but by the end of July, more than 5,000 had returned to Syria as the circumstances there had settled down. By the end of the year 2011, only 8,000 refugees continued to live in Turkey.[20]

The rate of refugees increased drastically in 2012 as the previous ceasefire attempts had failed.

About 15,000 registered refugees had fled to the Hatay province along with projections of thousands more unregistered refugees fleeing to other provinces by March 2012. In response, Turkish officials started providing more tent cities throughout the southern provinces of Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep, and Sanliurfa.[20] The situation only escalated when the idea of the ceasefire dissolved in mid-2012, a monthly average of more than 20,000 Syrians left to seek safety in Turkey. By the time 2012 had come to a close, it was recorded that more than 170,000 Syrian refugees resided in Turkey.[20] The monthly arrival rate had increased during 2013 and by the end of 2014, 55,000 refugees were seeking asylum in Turkey monthly. The increase in the rate of refugees was driven by emerging violence from a group now known to all, ISIS, of which they seized territories in Syria and Iraq during the summer of 2014[20]

Associations[]

Turkmen[]

See also: Turks in Germany

Established in Germany, the "Suriye Türkmen Kültür ve Yardımlaşma Derneği - Avrupa", or "STKYDA", ("Syrian Turkmen Culture and Solidarity Association - Europe") was the first Syrian Turkmen association to be launched in Europe.[21] It was established in order to help the growing Syrian Turkmen community who arrived in the country since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. The association includes Syrian Turkmen youth activists from many different Syrian cities and who are now living across Western Europe.[22]

Notable people[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Population in private households according to migration background in the broader sense according to selected countries of birth". DeStatis (Federal Office of Statistics). Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Anzahl der Ausländer in Deutschland nach Herkunftsland in den Jahren 2015 und 2016". statista (in German).
  3. ^ "Drusentum - Die geheime Religion (2020)". Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  4. ^ https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Publikationen/Downloads-Migration/auslaend-bevoelkerung-2010200207004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile
  5. ^ Matthias Meissner (30 March 2015). "Kriegsflüchtlinge aus Syrien - Linke und Gruene warnen vor Abschottung". Tagesspiegel. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Bevölkerung in Privathaushalten nach Migrationshintergrund im weiteren Sinn nach ausgewählten Geburtsstaaten".
  7. ^ a b "Five Years Later, One Million Refugees Are Thriving in Germany". Center For Global Development. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  8. ^ Thomas Frankenfeld (5 September 2015). "Darum sind so viele syrische Flüchtlinge gebildet". Hamburger Abendblatt. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Kartenseite: Syrer in Deutschland - Landkreise". kartenseite.wordpress.com. 2017-03-26. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
  10. ^ Rick Lyman; Anemona Hartocollis & Alison Smale (4 September 2015). "Migrants Cross Austria Border From Hungary". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  11. ^ "The Latest: Austria, Germany to accept bused migrants". msn.com.
  12. ^ "Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit" (PDF). Statistische Bundesamt. 16 March 2015. p. 39. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  13. ^ "Anhaltend hoher Asyl-Zugang im Oktober 2015". 5 November 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  14. ^ Atika Shubert and Nadine Schmidt (26 January 2019). "Germany rolls up refugee welcome mat to face off right-wing threat". CNN. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  15. ^ Berlin, Sally Hayden in; Gh, Ziad; our. "Syrian refugees unwanted in Germany, afraid to go home". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  16. ^ a b Elger, Katrin; Haidar, Asia (2019-07-03). "No Way Back: Why Most Syrian Refugees Want to Stay in Germany". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  17. ^ Hubbard, Ben (2020-11-12). "Syria Seeks Return of Refugees, but They Fear Leader's Wrath". The New York Times (in American English). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  18. ^ a b "Why has the Syrian war lasted 10 years?". BBC News (in British English). 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  19. ^ a b c Kaya, Serder; Orchard, Phil (2020). "Prospects of Return: The Case of Syrian Refugees". Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies. 18: 95–112. doi:10.1080/15562948.2019.1570579. S2CID 150640875.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g İçduygu, Ahmet (2015-04-21). "Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead". migrationpolicy.org. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  21. ^ Avrupa'da Suriyeli Türkmenler İlk Dernek Kurdular Suriye Türkmen kültür ve yardımlaşma Derneği- Avrupa STKYDA, Suriye Türkmenleri, retrieved 10 November 2020
  22. ^ SYRISCH TURKMENICHER KULTURVEREIN E.V. EUROPA, Suriye Türkmenleri, retrieved 10 November 2020
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