Austria is firm in its position not to rush deportations of Syrian citizens until there is a "significant and lasting" change in the situation in Syria, despite the verbal offensive of politicians, who have "bombarded" social networks with messages about repatriation, halting the processes for asylum and abolishing any kind of support for refugees.

Austrian Syrians gathered in central Vienna to welcome the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in their country, but politicians, particularly those from right-wing parties, said the time had come for the tens of thousands of refugees to return to their country.

The Ministry of the Interior announced that the decision to wait for repatriation was made in accordance with the current assessments of the Federal Office for Foreigners and Asylum due to the situation in the country gripped by years of conflict. Ministry sources told the Austrian News Agency that the new assessment will be carried out in "close coordination with European partners".

Austria is not the only country not currently planning deportations to Syria. Other members of the European Union, including Germany, act similarly. Berlin, however, reacted to the news of the fall of the Assad regime by freezing the processing of asylum applications from Syrians.

- Our goal is to provide a solid basis for decisions and to guarantee that the deportation of Syrian citizens will be in accordance with applicable human rights standards - said the spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior.

In contrast, Lebanon, which is home to more than 1 million Syrian refugees, has opened a process to return certain categories of refugees to Syria, despite criticism from international organizations. In Turkey, which has taken in around 3 million Syrian refugees, the public is putting increasing pressure on the authorities to start returning the refugees.

In Austria, Syrians continue to submit the largest number of asylum applications. Only in the first three months of the year, 2.572 requests were submitted, while in the long-term statistics of 2015, they are at the top with a total of 90.404 submitted requests, ahead of Afghans (84.803) and Indians (23.683).

According to data from March this year, 62 percent of Syrian citizens' asylum requests in Austria are resolved positively, and 21 percent are rejected or classified as "other." Since the beginning of the year, 904 negative decisions have been made for Syrians.

In other countries of the European Union, deportations are regularly carried out based on the Dublin Agreement, in which it is defined that the country in which the person first entered the territory of the EU is responsible for the asylum process.

The ministry in Vienna stressed that Austria will actively encourage the voluntary return of refugees, offering logistical support and financial assistance to returnees, but that forced deportation is only possible if there is a final decision and if the return can be carried out in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights and the decisions of the Austrian Administrative Court.

The Federal Office for Foreigners and Asylum (BFA) continuously monitors the development of the situation in Syria, as well as the relevant court rulings. State documentation, which serves as the basis for asylum procedures, is regularly updated to allow adaptation to each individual case.

- In this way, current changes in the situation can be taken into account in all stages of the decision-making process - the Ministry announced.