Germany says 280,000 asylum seekers arrived to the country in 2016, a drop of more than 600,000 from 2015. The German interior minister attributed the decrease to the closure in 2016 of the Balkan route and the migrant deal between the EU and Turkey. The record influx of 890,000 people in 2015 came as migrants and refugees travelled through Greece and the Balkans. When Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered a temporary open-door asylum policy, many headed for Germany.