Time for Syrians to go home?

With Syria’s war formally over, Friedrich Merz says repatriation can begin. Yet a fragile coalition and an economy reliant on migrant labour make deportations politically combustible.

Photo by Mahmoud Sulaiman on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

It is often forgotten that when Angela Merkel opened Germany’s borders at the height of Syria’s civil war, she also set a deadline for when the Syrians who arrived would be expected to leave.

Speaking in early 2016, Merkel said: “We expect that once peace returns to Syria and ISIS is defeated in Iraq, you will return to your homeland with the knowledge you have gained here with us.” Syrians were welcome to learn the language and find jobs, but their stay in Germany was “temporary,” she stressed.

Ten years later, the conditions Merkel set for a return appear to have been met. ISIS has been all but defeated, its fighters killed, arrested or driven into the desert. Syria’s brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad, has fled, leaving power in the hands of Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Islamist fighter. The year since Assad’s fall has seen parliamentary elections — but also sectarian massacres and gunfights between government loyalists and religious minori…