Karner does not travel to Syria after warnings
Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) canceled his planned trip to Syria on Thursday with his German counterpart Nancy Faeser (SPD) due to specific warnings of a terrorist threat. "The potential threat to the delegations and the deployed security forces was not justifiable," the Interior Ministry announced early Thursday morning. The decision was made jointly by both ministries.
Karner currently in Jordan
Karner and Faeser are currently in the Jordanian capital Amman. The onward journey to the Syrian capital Damascus, planned for the morning, was canceled. The focus of the discussions would have been security issues and perspectives for the return of Syrian refugees in the event of Syria's stabilization. The trip had not been announced in advance and was planned under high security precautions, according to the ministry.
Planned were discussions between Faeser and Karner as well as representatives of the United Nations, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNICEF, and the World Food Programme. Meetings with the Interior and Foreign Ministers of the Syrian transitional government were also on the agenda. The minister will now attend an appointment at the UNHCR in Jordan and then return to Austria, a spokesperson said in response to an APA inquiry.
"Our conversation partners in Jordan have encouraged us in our efforts to make contact with representatives of the Syrian transitional government," Karner stated in a statement to the APA. "The goal must be to bring more stability to the region." After threats against Western facilities or delegations, the trip had to be canceled for security reasons. "The goal remains unchanged: We want to deport criminals and threats back to Syria." These issues should be discussed with the Syrian transitional government at the earliest possible time.
Since the overthrow of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad last December, a total of 280,000 Syrians have returned to their homeland from abroad, according to recent United Nations estimates. Almost 30 percent of the millions of Syrian refugees in the Middle East want to return next year, according to UN figures.
Numerous Syrians in Austria
According to Statistics Austria, 104,699 Syrians live in Austria (as of February 11). After the fall of the Assad regime, asylum decisions for Syrian men and women were suspended, and more than 2,400 revocation procedures were initiated. On Wednesday, the government also decided on a pause in family reunification for refugees. This year, only 39 Syrians received asylum status.
At the beginning of the year, around 975,000 Syrian nationals were living in Germany, reports the German news agency dpa. Among them were about 10,200 who were obliged to leave the country. About 9,100 of them had a temporary suspension of deportation. For more than two months, the German Ministry of the Interior has been working on a regulation that would allow refugees from Syria to travel back to their homeland for a short time without risking their protection status in Germany.
Assad No Longer in Power
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, which started in 2011 with the brutal suppression of protests against the Assad government, more than 500,000 people have been killed. Millions fled the war, economic, and humanitarian hardship to neighboring and other countries. In Turkey alone, which shares a 900-kilometer border with Syria, around 2.9 million Syrian refugees live.
Assad was overthrown on December 8 by a rebel alliance led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Assad fled to Russia. Since then, the country has been led by a transitional government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Three weeks ago, a surprise attack by Alawite Assad supporters triggered a military operation in the coastal region in the northwest, resulting in hundreds of deaths - including many Alawite civilians. In contrast, there are positive developments such as the agreement of a pact between the transitional government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on March 10.
(APA/Red)
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