Members of the Islamonazi Gülen movement shoehorning their way into the country…
Turkey tops new asylum seekers
Main daily Helsingin Sanomat (HS) breaks down the lastest figures on who’s seeking asylum in Finland. According to the Finnish Immigration Service, Migri, people from Turkey and Russia topped the list of new asylum seekers entering Finland in 2019.
Migri reports that last year 379 Turkish nationals filed new applications for asylum, while Russian citizens lodged 313 new applications for asylum, HS writes.
Migri senior inspector Otso Paasi tells HS that while there are several reasons for Russians seeking asylum, the largest groups were from the North Caucasus region and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The North Caucasus is a restless, politically volatile area, where human rights have taken a back seat. Meanwhile being a practicing Jehovah’s Witnesses is almost forbidden in Russia, as the religious movement has been denounced as “extremist,” writes HS.
According to Paasi, among the group of Russians seeking asylum in Finland are people who have sought asylum for political reasons, or because they belong to a sexual minority.
As for Turkish nationals who sought asylum in Finland, the largest reason was membership or assumed membership in the Islamic Gülen movement, which has political overtones and is named after US-based Islamic cleric Fetullah Gülen. Turkey has accused Gülen of plotting a coup against the country in 2016.
In total, last year Finland received 4,550 applications for asylum, writes HS. Of those, 2,467 were new applications. In 2019, the largest number of people granted asylum in Finland were Iraqis (682), followed by Russians (168). The Russian figure represents a large increase over the previous year — in 2018, 15 Russians were granted asylum in Finland.
