German Interior Ministry

The German Interior Ministry has announced that Berlin will stop accepting imams sent from Türkiye, and reached a deal with Ankara to train the Muslim clerics in Germany.

The Kosovo parliament met on Thursday to hold a special session on the exodus of young people, which deputies warned was having a highly damaging effect on the country's economy and future. The MPs were due to vote a resolution on the subject that night.

Only seven of 1,500 refugees that Greece agreed to take back from Germany as part of a bilateral agreement in August have been returned, according to data from the German Interior Ministry.

The deal concerned refugees in Germany who had originally applied for asylum in Greece.

Germany has reached an agreement with Greece to send back migrants to the Mediterranean country if they have already applied for asylum there, a German Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.

A delegation from the German Interior Ministry will start discussions with officials in Athens on Tuesday about Berlin's proposals to return 3,300 migrants and refugees that were registered in the Eurodac fingerprint database in Greece but still managed to make their way to Germany.

A total of 37 attacks have taken place against Turkish institutions in 2018 in Germany, German newspaper Funke Mediengruppe reported on March 20, basing the figures on the German Interior Ministry sources.

From Wednesday, four Greek police officers will be working alongside their German counterparts, helping with checks on passengers arriving at the country's airports from Greece.

The German Interior Ministry told Kathimerini that the Greek policemen would be stationed at Munich and Frankfurt airports, where passengers from Greece are undergoing checks after Berlin stepped up security.

The number of Turks seeking asylum in Germany is up sharply this year and has been rising steadily since last year's failed coup attempt, German government data showed on Sept. 18.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador in Ankara on Sept. 17, over a pro-PKK (outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party) event held in the city of Cologne. 

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık has urged his German counterpart to review the country's stance on individuals who are suspected of being coup plotters and currently seeking asylum in Germany.