Over 19,000 Syrian refugees transited through Albania in the last 5 years

 

Over 19,000 Syrian refugees, who entered mainly from the border with Greece, transited through Albania in the last five years, then traveling illegally mainly through the Montenegrin border towards European countries.

According to data from the Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), refugees fleeing Syria to escape the Bashar al-Assad regime have made up the largest number of irregular foreign immigrants entering Albania in recent years, along with citizens from Afghanistan.

According to INSTAT data, which refers to the Albanian border police, the largest number of Syrian refugees entering Albania in the last five years was recorded in 2020 with 6,224 people and in 2021 with 5,366 people.

According to official Albanian data, a portion of Syrian refugees sought asylum in Albania, but it appears that this was a practice to give them time to leave the country for European countries.

The majority of asylum applications from Syrian citizens in Albania, according to border data, linked the request to leaving to escape the Assad regime in Syria.

Now that the Assad regime has fallen, according to immigration experts, a redefinition of the examination of asylum requests from Syrian citizens in Albania is expected by the Albanian government, in accordance with the new circumstances and with the approaches that European Union countries will follow.

According to INSTAT data, approximately 1,034 Syrian citizens applied for a residence permit in Albania in the last five years, settling mainly in Tirana.

After the fall of the regime in Syria, Albanian border authorities have not detected any Syrian citizens entering from Greek territory in recent days.

Greek immigration authorities, the country from which Syrian refugees enter Albania, have announced that in recent days some Syrian citizens in Greece have already abandoned their asylum requests.

The Secretary General of Migration Policy in Greece, Manos Logothetis, stated to Greek media that the process of submitting and examining asylum applications for Syrian citizens has not been suspended in Greece, but only the issuance of decisions to grant asylum has been suspended.

The Greek government is meeting today to consider the positions to be taken on this issue, the Greek immigration policy official declared. VOA