Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected in Berlin on Tuesday for talks, as German officials seek to step up deportations of Syrians, despite unease about continued instability in their homeland.
– Al-Sharaa is scheduled to meet his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president’s office said.
– Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s office has yet to announce whether he would also hold talks with Sharaa during the visit.
– The focus of next week’s visit for the German government will be on stepping up repatriations of Syrians, a priority for Merz’s conservative-led coalition since Bashar al-Assad was toppled.
– Roughly one million Syrians fled to Germany in recent years, many of them arriving in 2015-16 to escape the civil war.
– In November Merz, who fears being outflanked by the far-right AfD party on immigration, insisted there was “no longer any reason” for Syrians who fled the war to seek asylum in Germany.
– “For those who refuse to return to their country, we can of course expel them,” he said.