Belgium: the number of Turks seeking asylum has tripled

The Immigration Office of the Belgian Ministry of the Interior announced that the number of citizens of the Republic of Turkey seeking asylum in the country has increased approximately three times in one year.

According to BBC Turkish Yusuf Özkan News, the Flemish-language newspaper De Standaard published in Belgium wrote that more and more highly educated Turkish citizens are leaving their country. Noting that the reason for this is the economic and political situation in Turkey, according to the newspaper, “three-quarters of young people want to escape the Erdogan regime.”

According to a statement from the Belgian Immigration Office to De Standaard newspaper, the number of Turkish citizens who applied for asylum, which was 671 last year, rose to 1,721 this year. The Immigration Office notes that economic migration figures from Turkey to Belgium have also increased significantly.

According to this institution, while 660 people from Turkey came to Belgium to work in 2021, this number increased to 1,243 in 2022. Official figures reveal that the number of researchers moving from Turkey to Belgium has almost doubled.

“Many application cases are still under review,” said Paulien Blondeel of the Immigration Office.