German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) has traveled to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Bahrain for the first time since taking office in May. Under his predecessor, Annalena Baerbock, Germany resumed diplomatic contacts with Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December. In March of this year, Baerbock traveled to Syria and reopened the German embassy, which had been closed since 2012.
Before continuing his journey from Jordan to Syria on Thursday afternoon, Wadephul said in a press statement about his next stop: “With the overthrow of the Assad dictatorship, the people of Syria have entered a new era. We now want to support them in taking control of their country’s future.”
Setting the course for deportation plans
Germany has taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Afghan refugees since 2015. However, right-wing extremist groups in the country have grown significantly stronger, and the new Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has taken measures to tighten immigration policy.
Wadephul said in his statement: “During the bloody civil war, over a million Syrians sought refuge in Germany. Many have not only found protection here, but also a new home. Some are also considering returning to Syria to rebuild their country. I would like to deepen this special relationship between our countries together with our partners in Syria.”
Lifting sanctions to achieve equality?
According to his own statements, the German foreign minister wants to use his visit to Syria primarily to emphasize the importance of equality as the foundation for a “free, secure, and stable Syria.” Germany wants to work on this “foundation,” according to Wadephul.
“By lifting all economic sanctions against Syria, which we advocated for early on and strongly at the European level. Through humanitarian aid, support in clearing mines and explosive ordnance, and the rapid establishment of an embassy. And, of course, through investments in the Syrian economy that German companies want to make.”
Critics, however, see this stance by the German government as a rapprochement with the new jihadist rulers that comes with few conditions attached. Recently, the research services of the Bundestag confirmed that human rights violators have found their place in the ranks of the self-proclaimed Syrian transitional government and that its armed groups are still regularly involved in massacres of the civilian population.