Austrian integration expert reveals: Syrians are not fleeing from war, but from conscription

Minister of the Interior Karner ( Austrian People’s Party) presented the new online campaign against illegal migration today. The Syrian integration expert Rasha Corti also had her say. “The main reason for the migration of Syrian men to Europe is conscription. Syria is now almost completely pacified.

At a press conference on Tuesday morning, Interior Minister Karner presented the new online “counter-campaign” to combat traffickers. In the campaign, people are warned on various channels such as Telegram, Facebook, but also through advertisements in their mother tongue not to make their way to Europe.

“No way, no chance,” Karner described the campaign, which is placed via Google and other sites for people interested in migration from countries such as India, Tunisia or Pakistan, warning of the hardships of the journey and the machinations of the smuggling industry to the EU. In July, the most applications were made by Indians, followed by North African countries of origin and Pakistan, he said. “These people actually have zero per cent chance of staying and must be repatriated,” the interior minister said.

Rasha Corti, member of the Integration Council, also warned against the trafficking mafia. “People are left alone for days without food and drink”. She described the situation in her home country Syria as “mostly pacified”.

She warned of “former IS fighters who have been coming to Europe for years”. The main reason for migration for many young men is now not war, but national conscription. Although it is possible to buy oneself out of this obligation by paying 7,000 euros, more and more men are refusing to do so – and prefer to leave the country for Europe.

“But the majority of Syrians who have fled come for economic reasons,” says Rasha Corti. Nevertheless, Syrian citizens still have a high chance of a positively completed asylum application in Austria. Other reasons for migration to Austria, she says, are high unemployment in the countries of origin and health reasons. “

Corti also criticised the ambitions of some EU countries (such as Germany), which “hold out the prospect of automatically receiving a legal residence title after three years of illegal residence in the country”. This would “encourage thousands to set off”.

https://exxpress.at/integrationsexpertin-syrer-fliehen-nicht-vor-krieg-sondern-vor-wehrpflicht/