Increasing asylum applications in Austria, significantly more people smugglers, increased pressure on EU borders – Interior Minister Gerhard Karner had a lot to discuss with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara.
With about 1,300 applications this year, Turks now rank 5th in the red-white-red asylum statistics. In 2021, the domestic authorities counted only 220 during the same period. “A small percentage are Kurds who have fled – but the majority are economic refugees (keyword benefit fraud),” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner on the sidelines of the joint company trip with Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in Ankara. The relevant cooperation with the Turkish authorities in the field of repatriation has “generally” gone well.
Istanbul as a hub for human traffickers
In the future, however, criminal law police cooperation should become “even more robust” when it comes to combating illegal migration and trafficking in human beings. THE central topic in the conversation with his Turkish counterpart Süleymann Soylu. Especially since Istanbul is considered THE hub of unscrupulous human traffickers and illegal travel to the EU.
“The number of illegal migration is soaring and we are also arresting significantly more people smugglers. To continue doing this and counter the increase, we need Turkey as a strong partner. They have good contacts in Iran and Pakistan – two of the main countries of origin for the refugees,” Karner said.
According to official information, there are currently about six million refugees (mainly Syrians and Afghans) in the country. However, the number of unreported cases is likely much higher. And the Turkish population’s mood about migrants seems to be slowly changing – and Turkey’s presidential elections are next spring. Which of course means that the refugee situation comes into the picture even more.
Schallenberg: ‘Putin wages war with hunger as a weapon’
According to the Austrian foreign minister, it is not yet possible to assess how this would affect the migration situation and Europe. Alexander Schallenberg: “Putin wages war with hunger as a weapon with incredible cynicism. We support all international efforts to resume exports from Ukraine as soon as possible.”
Therefore, Turkey’s mediation efforts to allow Russia to export grain through the Black Sea were a key topic in talks with its Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Source: Krone
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