Merkel to Uphold EU-Turkey Refugee Deal Despite Ankara’s Post-Coup Crackdown

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will stick to the EU-Turkey agreement on refugees despite Ankara's crackdown on the opposition and civil liberties that provoked criticism from the EU member-states after the recent failed Turkish coup attempt, German Alliance for Progress and Renewal party’s (ALFA) spokesman Christian Schmidt told Sputnik on Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On July 15, the Turkish authorities said that an attempted coup was taking place in the country. The attempt was suppressed by early Saturday. Over 13,000 military, political and judicial figures have been detained in connection with the coup.

"Can Merkel afford to kill the agreement she has with [Turkish President Recep Tayyp] Erdogan on refugees? No, I don’t think so. I believe, the German government, despite the EU calls for reviewing these and any other agreements with Turkey, will stick to the real politics that require, sometimes, deals with dictators in order to preserve security and stability," Schmidt said.

He added that the German chancellor cannot afford to jeopardize the temporary political calm after rather successful agreement with Turkey that stem a flow of migrants ahead of the upcoming German regional elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin in September.

"Merkel would not want to deal with a growing pressure over refugees ahead of regional elections as it will lead to a surge in popularity for the right-wing parties and will caused difficulty within the coalition with the Social Democrats," Schmidt said.

Moreover, according to the official, the German government is unlikely to reverse its open-door policy that has attracted to the country over a million of migrants during the past year following a recent week of attacks in Germany, as they have no credible links to the Islamic extremism.

"It is too early to reconsider the open-door policy based on what has happened during last week. Although refugees were suspected in three of the four assaults, two attacks have been rather related to the personal issues of refugees who had no links with the Islamic State [Daesh]. A man with a machete who killed a woman and injured two others has done it for his personal reasons. German-Iranian teenager, who killed nine people and injured 19 others before committing suicide during Friday's attack in Munich, also had psychiatric problems," Schmidt said.

He warned, however, of a potential backlash against refugees in Germany following the recent attacks in the country amid the ever increasing amount of terror acts committed by individuals or small groups of Islamists across Europe.