"Under the current resettlement program, Germany will accept 10,000 refugees," Merkel said at a joint briefing with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi.
The chancellor pointed out that Germany took the responsibility to accept this number of refugees under the EU-Turkish refugee deal.
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Merkel also noted that one of the key German objectives was to tackle illegal migration. In order to achieve this goal Berlin will further provide assistance to the crisis-hit regions such as Libya, Syria and the Lake Chad region.
In 2015, the European Union introduced a relocation quota system in response to the the refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of migrants began fleeing to Europe from conflicts in their native North Africa and Middle East.
In March 2016, the European Union and Ankara agreed on a deal, under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. The European Union vowed to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid, introduce a visa-free regime, as well as provide financial aid to Turkey to cover the costs of migrant reception.
