The sentence that has sparked debate across Germany was uttered almost casually as Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his guest, Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, addressed journalists after their meeting in in Berlin on Monday.

Responding to a question about Syrian refugees, Merz said that "over the longer term of the next three years — that was the wish of al-Sharaa — 80% of the Syrians currently in Germany should return to their homeland."

This left the journalists scratching their heads. Is 80% of the more than 900,000 Syrians in Germany really feasible? Did Merz really say that? It took several hours for politicians and commentators to react to this statement.

On Tuesday, Merz reiterated that with his statement, he had merely relayed the wish of the Syrian president.

But al-Sharaa swiftly denied the claim during a discussion with the Chatham House think tank on Tuesday evening, saying the chancellor had made the comment, according to the official translation of the Arabic-language event.

The whole affair is now threatening to develop into a diplomatic incident. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul took pains to defend his boss on Tuesday, saying the chancellor's statement was "of course the aim of the German government."

But for Luise Amtsberg of the opposition Green party, Merz's statements are "not only out of touch with reality, but cynical." Speaking with the newspapers of the Funke Media Group, she said the announcement ignores "not only the fragile security situation in Syria, but also the fact that many Syrian refugees have long been part of our society."

Doctors, nurses from Syria in high demand

Merz's statement drew criticism not only from representatives of the opposition, but also a number of politicians in the governing coalition. 

"It is not a wise idea for the chancellor to throw out concrete figures for specific time frames, because that raises expectations that he may not be able to meet," Anke Rehlinger, premier of the small state of Saarland from the center-left Social Democratic Party, the junior partner in Merz's federal government, told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. 

Roderich Kiesewetter, the foreign policy expert for Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in parliament, also pointed out in the Handelsblatt newspaper that there is a large number of people from Syria working in nursing and medical professions. "If they return, we will have a problem," he said.

The German Hospital Federation shares this view. Its vice chair, Henriette Neumeyer, pointed out that Syrian doctors constitute the largest group among foreign doctors in Germany.

In fact, Merz himself had spoken about this group at the press conference on Monday, adding: "We have an interest in ensuring that those who live here want to stay, are well integrated — President al-Sharaa just spoke about doctors and nurses working in our hospitals — that these people remain in Germany."

Syrians in Germany: The numbers

Some 1.2 million people of Syrian origin now live in Germany, which has a total population of 84 million. More than a quarter of them have received German citizenship.

Most Syrian refugees came to Germany after the outbreak of the civil war in their homeland in March 2011; 600,000 arrived before 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic largely brought the influx of refugees to a standstill.

Most refugees from Syria have what is known as subsidiary protection. This means they are permitted to stay in Germany as long as they are threatened in their homeland by war, disasters, hunger or poverty. But according to the German federal government, Syria's civil war came to an end when the violent regime of former President Bashar Assad was overthrown at the end of 2024 and al-Sharaa, former leader of an Islamist rebel group, came to power as interim president.

Those who came as refugees but have found employment can transition from the asylum-seeker status to "labor migration" status. This option was introduced in 2023 as a key aspect of the migration policy of the previous center-left government, aimed at filling skills gaps and integrating refugees into the labor market.

Germany resumed deportations to Syria in 2025 following the ouster of Assad, for the first time since 2011. In Germany, every deportation order requires a reassessment of the individual refugee's need for protection. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees then conducts a case review, the outcome of which can then be appealed in an administrative court. The courts already face a backlog of 180,000 asylum cases.

Experts have said that the repatriation of large numbers of people within only three years, as suggested by Merz, is unrealistic. Political observers warn that stating such a goal could negatively impact the chances of Merz's CDU party for reelection. The next general election happens to be in exactly three years, and the far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD) will be holding Merz accountable for his promises.

Syrians in Germany are outraged

Merz's plan has caused despair and anger among people of Syrian descent living in Germany, Nahla Osman, a lawyer and expert in migration law based in Hesse, told DW.

"A simple calculation shows that this would require deporting around 730 people every day for three years — a logistical scenario without any realistic basis," said Osman, who was born in Syria and is now chairwoman of the umbrella organization of German-Syrian aid associations. "Against this backdrop, the debate appears less as a viable political strategy and more as a domestic political signal in the context of rising forces like the AfD."

Few people have so far decided to return to Syria voluntarily. Since the beginning of 2025, there has been a program with incentives in place, jointly administered by the federal government in Berlin and the 16 German states. It includes, among other things, an offer to cover flight costs and provide a startup grant of €1,000 ($1,160) for each adult to begin a new life in Syria.

According to information from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, 3,678 Syrians took up this offer in 2025.

This article was originally written in German.