A year after the failed coup attempt in Turkey thousands of Turkish nationals have fled to seek asylum in Germany with over three thousand coming this year so far. In the first half of 2017 more than 3,200 Turkish nationals have claimed asylum in Germany, most of them fleeing the government of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has heavily cracked down on anyone suspected of being involved in the failed coup last year. The German Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees has said that the number of asylum applications has drastically increased since last year’s coup Die Welt reports. Since the coup attempt on July 15th, 2016 BAMF says that among the Turks claiming asylum have been many government officials. They say so far 205 Turkish civil servants have applied for refugee status and an astounding 209 diplomatic personnel have as well. President Erdogan and the Turkish government blames the Gülen Movement which is headed by Fethullah Gülen, an Imam living in exile in the United States, for inciting and plotting the failed coup. Since the resolution of the incident, the Turkish government has made thousands upon thousands of arrests of armed forces personnel, civil servants, judicial officials and even many journalists.