German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has backtracked on comments made during a recent visit to Syria suggesting levels of destruction would discourage refugee return.
Adopting a harsher line, Mr Wadephul said there was “no longer any reason” that about one million Syrians who sought refuge in Germany after the start of a civil war in 2011 should not return home.
“For those who refuse to return to their country, we can of course expel them,” he said after more dovish comments provoked controversy in Germany, where conservative politicians want Syrians to leave.
During his first visit to Syria last week, Mr Wadephul travelled to Harasta, a destroyed suburb north of Damascus. According to news website InfoMigrants, he compared the scenes of destruction to those in Germany following the Second World War. He said it was “barely possible for people to live here with dignity”.
Mr Wadephul also discussed the possible return of Syrian refugees with President Ahmad Al Shara. Mr Wadephul said it was “in the understandable interest of the Syrian government to create the conditions for as many Syrians as possible to return”.
However, this was currently “only possible to a very limited extent, because a great deal of infrastructure in this country has been destroyed”, he added. “Anyone who wants to return to Syria will be given a tearful send-off by us. But we will understand that perfectly well.”
His comments were criticised by Gunter Krings, the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Parliament – the political group to which Mr Wadephul belongs.
Now that the civil war is over, Syrians should return home, Mr Krings told German newspaper Bild. “After all, who is supposed to rebuild a destroyed country if not its own citizens?” he said.
Former president Bashar Al Assad was toppled last year by rebel groups that have relaunched diplomatic ties with the west and succeeded in removing international sanctions on Syria. But so far, fewer than 2,000 Syrians in Germany have decided to accept a voluntary return programme offered by the German government.
Many say they have little to return to after 14 years of civil war destroyed half of the country's infrastructure, according to the UN. Nine out of 10 Syrians live in poverty.
Initial hopes caused by the change in regime were dampened earlier this year after mass killings against religious minorities, often at the hands of groups affiliated with politicians in power.
But the presence of Syrians in Germany has become more controversial in recent years after highly publicised security incidents involving Syrians.
German police on Saturday arrested a man who was planning a terror attack inspired by the so-called Islamic State. In September, a Syrian man was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing three people and injuring 10 others.
German government officials downplayed the controversy caused by Mr Wadephul's comments.
“The German government is working on the rapid stabilisation of Syria. Only in this way can the conditions for the return of war refugees be created,” government spokesman Stefan Kornelius told Bild.
That is also why Mr Wadephul has invited Mr Al Shara to visit Berlin, on behalf of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Mr Kornelius said.
