Khaberni - Over 14 years, Germany provided a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of Syrians who fled the war in their country. However, the situation has changed today, as many in Germany, including the country’s leader, want them to return to Syria.
In November, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a controversial plan to deport Syrian refugees "in the near future", urging Syrians residing in Germany to voluntarily return to their homeland.
In this context, writer Michelle Lynn Kahn, in an article on "the conversation" website, stated that this strict policy cannot be explained solely by the rise in popularity of the right-wing extremist party "Alternative for Germany".
She said: "The reality is more complex. Racism and Islamophobia are not phenomena confined to the far right. Instead, they have been part of German politics and mainstream society for decades".
"Racism within Merz's Party"
As an expert in the history of German migration and right-wing extremism, Kahn clarified that she studied the history of racism in Merz's party itself, the Christian Democratic Union. She recalled how the party used similar methods in the eighties to expel another group of predominantly Muslim migrants: the Turks.
She added: "Millions of Turks came to West Germany in the sixties and seventies as workers to help rebuild Germany after World War II". By the late seventies, they began to bring their spouses and children, becoming the largest ethnic minority in Germany.
"Yesterday’s slogans echo today"
Concurrently, racism levels rose, from the far right or from the center. While the new Nazis violently attacked the Turks, Germans from all political spectrums argued that Islam was incompatible with Europe, an opinion that echoes today, according to the writer.
The then Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who led the Christian Democratic Union, expressed his desire to reduce the number of Turkish migrants by 50%.
But expelling half of the Turkish population in West Germany was not easy, especially considering the sensitivities that still haunted a country scarred by Nazi atrocities and the Holocaust.
In the post-war years, West Germany was keen on rebuilding its reputation as a liberal democracy committed to human rights, hence forced deportations were not a viable option.
Kohl came up with a solution by promoting the "voluntary return" law, a controversial measure that offered financial incentives for Turks to voluntarily return.
In the end, about 15% of Turkish migrants – approximately 250,000 men, women, and children, took the money and left. It was one of the largest and quickest mass migrations in modern European history.
However, returnees often faced financial and social challenges in Turkey, where the economy was struggling. Many, especially children, were seen as "Turks influenced by Germany".
The writer believes that Germany today cannot expect a large number of Syrian refugees to accept financial incentives. Given the ongoing humanitarian crisis in their country, they will face greater difficulties than those faced by Turks in the eighties. In fact, only about 1300 Syrians have voluntarily returned since the collapse of the Assad regime, which is about 0.1% of the Syrians in Germany.
