EU: Turkish citizens fourth largest group in asylum applications

EU: Turkish citizens fourth largest group in asylum applications
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Close to 50,000 people from Turkey have applied for asylum in the EU in 2022.

Turkey was ranked the fourth country of origin in terms of first-time asylum applications for international protection in the European Union in 2022, according to Eurostat.

The number of first-time asylum applicants in the EU last year rose to 881,200, marking an increase of 64% compared to the year before.

Syria continues to be the main country of citizenship of asylum seekers in the EU since 2013. Syrians lodged 131,970 first-time applications in 2022 (15% of the total number of first-time applications in the EU).

Afghans followed for the fourth consecutive year with 113,495 applications (13% of the EU total).

Applicants from Venezuela and Turkey each represented about 6% of the EU total, with 50 050 and 49 720 applications, respectively.

Over 3.8 million non-EU citizens benefited from temporary protection in the EU in 2022, most of them Ukrainians who fled their country upon Russian invasion.

Although the latest annual figure of first-time asylum applications is still below the peaks of 1.21 million and 1.16 million in 2015 and 2016 respectively, related to the civil war in Syria, it still reflects a persistent trend since 2008, when 121,000 asylum applications were lodged.