“Are you a Syrian, Sunni Muslim, single and have people to support you back home? Then you are not entitled to asylum in Greece.”

This is how the change in strategy that is now enforced can be described, rejecting asylum requests from people with this profile for the first time in 14 years.

According to “proto thema”, a radical change in policy has been taking place in recent days, since the first rejection decisions have been issued and the first Syrian returns are underway.

As the new Minister of Immigration and Asylum Thanos Plevris says in a statement to “proto thema”, both with the freezing of the examination of applications after the fall of the Assad regime and with this latest development, Greece shows that “it will not tolerate the abuse of International Protection”.

However, there is a clear distinction in the handling of asylum claims filed by Syria’s religious minorities. The Syrian civil war began in 2011 when, as part of the Arab Spring, the Assad regime responded by killing protesters, sparking an outburst of anger and a civil war that lasted 14 years.

The armed conflict has fractured Syria’s social fabric, with nearly 15 million Syrians forcibly displaced and about half fleeing abroad. Turkey, as a border country, was and remains the first destination for them, with Greece, however, being the natural corridor to the European Union.

The refugee crisis peaked in the years 2016-2017, with the flows soaring and almost a million people (Syrians and migrants from all corners of Asia and Africa who were integrated into the refugee caravans) passing through our country.

How many passed through Greece

In terms of management by Greece, apart from the fact that it had to build a migration policy that did not exist in previous years, with accommodation facilities, services, etc., it eventually granted asylum to some 147,000 Syrian citizens. The wave was so massive, however, that it is estimated that another 150,000 or so crossed Greece and left for Europe without being accounted for.

Today, things are much more manageable. There are 5,600 Syrians living in the facilities of the National Reception System, who together with Afghans make up the two largest ethnic groups of asylum seekers.

The freeze on applications

In December 2024 Assad falls and the state apparatus is taken over by the dominant rebel group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led by Ahmed Hussein al-Saraa, known by the militant nickname Abu Mohammed al-Golani. Given the new administration’s proclamations of stability, a growing number of Western countries have moved to freeze the processing of asylum claims by Syrians until conditions in Syria become clear, i.e., whether it has ceased to be a warring country.

Since then Al-Saraa has tried to build a profile of a moderate reformer and to some extent has succeeded. Just days ago, in fact, the State Department issued a statement informing that sanctions on Syria were being lifted at the behest of US President Donald Trump “to give Syrians the opportunity to head back to greatness.”

A development that shows the West’s willingness to end the Syrian issue in order to allow the country to not only keep its citizens, but also to create opportunities for as many as possible to return home.

Negative decisions and returns

Back on our own now, after the Asylum Service commander Mario Kaleas sent an internal directive to officials on June 30, as Thema is aware, the first negative decisions were issued for asylum seekers from Syria, after taking into account their reasons for fleeing and their personal characteristics.

Indeed, in this direction, both Frontex and the International Organization for Migration have informed the services of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum that they are now restarting the procedures for voluntary returns to the Syrian Republic. Our country, however, is not the only one that has changed its stance on the issue, as Cyprus has also started – first – to issue negative decisions for Syrians.

However, this development has other implications, as the Greek authorities intend to review the refugee statuses granted to Syrian citizens and revoke those for which the reasons for granting them have ceased to exist.

Thanos Plevris in Proto Thema

“Greece was the first country in Europe that, after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, proceeded to freeze the examination of asylum applications from Syrian citizens, as well as to carefully review them, thus showing that we will not tolerate the abuse of International Protection. A few days ago, in fact, the first negative decisions were issued for applicants from Syria, after the reason for their flight was taken into account, together with their personal characteristics. Thus, Greece becomes the second Member State, after Cyprus, to start issuing negative decisions for Syrian citizens.”