Syrian flags, motorcades, honking, traditional sweets. Tens of thousands of people originating from SyriaGerman citizens, refugees and new arrivals took to the streets in several German cities to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime.

Over 11,000 in Essen, over 5,000 in Berlin3,000 in Mainz for example, with the slogan “free Syria”. Syrian civic associations organized celebrations and discussions for the next day across Germany.

The chancellery in Berlin welcomed the news of the end of the Assad era as “good news for Syria”. “The Syrian people have experienced unimaginable suffering,” Olaf Solz said in an emergency statement from the chancellery on Sunday, expressing the hope that “law and order will quickly return to the country.” In fact, he attributed the responsibility for the displacement of millions of Syrian citizens to the Assad regime.

“Don’t let Syria fall into the hands of extremists”

The sub. Foreign Analena Burboxse’s message through the X platform speaks of a “first big breath of relief” for millions of people from Syria. At the same time, however, he emphasizes that the country should not fall again “into the hands of other extremists, regardless of the guise they wear”, considering the protection of ethnic and religious minorities imperative: Kurds, Alevis, Christians.

The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament, Michael Roth, spoke for the end of Assad’s “bloody secular dictatorship”, warning that the continuation cannot be a “religious fundamentalist dictatorship”. As he said, Syria “deserves a real chance for peace, reconciliation and stability.”

“Turkey won”

As “winners” from the situation in Syria, Norbert Röttgen, responsible for foreign policy issues of the Christian Democrats, sees Turkey and President Erdogan. As he observes, Turkey has a special interest in ensuring stability in Syria in order to repatriate the three million Syrians living in Turkey.

As for those displaced from Syria who have received protection in recent years in Germany, Norbert Rötgen, speaking to Spiegel, believes that it is still too early to talk about their repatriation.

K.O. of the Alternative for Germany through its vice president, Stefan Koetter, calls on the German government “to take measures to prevent another refugee flow at the German border”.

Decisions on asylum applications are suspended

Meanwhile, as announced on Monday, the Federal Office for Migration and Asylum (BAMF) is temporarily suspending decision-making on asylum requests, due to the “uncertain situation” prevailing in Syria.

According to official figures from the Federal Statistical Office reproduced by the public network ZDF, at the end of 2023 a total of 972,460 people of Syrian origin lived in Germany.

711,650 of them are under the status of asylum seekers. To date, the largest volume of asylum applications that the German authorities are required to process comes from people of Syrian origin.

For this year, according to the VAMF, 74,971 Syrian citizens applied for asylum between January and November in Germany. International protection status was granted in over 80% of cases.