Germany
Kurds in Germany: a history
Germany holds the largest Kurdish diaspora community (Institut kurde de Paris estimate, 2016). Many Kurds came from 1961 as guest workers from Türkiye and were counted as Turkish. Political refugees followed the 1980 coup, war refugees the 1990s, and Iraqi and Iranian Kurds came too. Syrian Kurds and Yazidi survivors arrived from 2011 and 2014. Alevi and Yazidi communities are strong. Some associations have been banned by the federal authorities under the law on associations (Vereinsgesetz).
01Waves
- labour 1961 onward
- 1980 coup exiles
- 1990s war refugees
- Syria and Yazidi 2011 onward
02Figures
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about 1.3 million
research estimate, 2023
Mediendienst Integration citing Ghaderi and Almstadt (2023) Secondary source
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about 649,000 asylum applications by Kurds 2010 to 2025; about 375,000 granted protection
asylum statistics by stated ethnicity, 2025
Bundestag Drucksache 20/10827 Secondary source
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850,000 to 950,000
institute estimate (range), 2016
Institut kurde de Paris, The Kurdish diaspora (Dec 2016 table of ranges) Secondary source