Turkish community calls asylum placement in AfD-led Sachsen-Anhalt unacceptable

The Turkish Community in Germany says it is no longer acceptable to send asylum seekers to Sachsen-Anhalt after the AfD’s strong victory in the state election. Gökay Sofuoğlu, the organization’s federal chairman, said people with migrant backgrounds could not afford to wait for theoretical debates about security.

“People with a migration background in Sachsen-Anhalt have no more time for theoretical security debates,” Sofuoğlu told the dpa news agency. He said politicians must now actively protect them from far-right extremists, adding that refugees were particularly vulnerable.

The organization called on the federal government to lift the residence requirement for refugees. Under the rule, described in Germany’s asylum law as a geographical restriction, asylum seekers must remain within the city or district where they are housed during their asylum procedure unless authorities grant permission to leave.

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People with a migration background in Sachsen-Anhalt have no more time for theoretical security debates

“No one should be forced to stay in a place where they could become a target of right-wing extremists,” Sofuoğlu said. “We must not wait until people have been killed before reacting.” Protests against the AfD took place in several cities after the election.

The AfD won 43.8% of the vote and became the strongest party, but it cannot govern alone without an absolute majority. Its programme calls for the economy to reject workers it considers culturally foreign, promises a hard line toward migrants without legal residence and Ukrainian war refugees, and seeks to abolish the constitutional right to asylum. It also wants to end subsidiary protection, although EU law limits what the state party can do on its own.

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We must not wait until people have been killed before reacting