Rejected Iraqi asylum seekers have to leave Germany, says ambassador

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Those Iraqi asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected have to leave Germany, the European country’s envoy to Iraq said on Wednesday.

The remarks by the newly inaugurated German Ambassador to Iraq Christiane Hohmann came in response to a question raised by a Kurdistan 24 reporter at the 8th Middle East Research Institute (MERI) Forum in Erbil.

There are currently 30,000 Iraqi asylum seekers living in Germany whose applications have been rejected.

They “have to leave Germany, which will successfully and in steps will happen, and return to Iraq,” the ambassador said. A number of those rejected asylum seekers will be returned to Iraq’s Kurdistan Region as well.

The European country has increased the opportunity to legally find jobs in Germany, she added.

Germany is one of the European countries that has hosted a substantial Kurdish and Iraqi diaspora for decades. Thousands have fled to the country or sought asylum, fleeing the country’s conflicts, economic stagnation, and threats.

Berlin has previously discussed finding a mechanism to deport the rejected Iraqi asylum seekers back to their country with top Iraqi officials.