Germany has witnessed a sharp decrease in the number of asylum seekers arriving, the government reported on Friday saying that some 222,000 refugees were registered in the first half of this year. Last year, around 1.1 million people claimed asylum in Germany. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizere said that it appears that the EU-brokered refugee deal reached with Turkey has been contributing to the drop. “The implementation of the agreement between the EU and Turkey is working so far, but I wouldn’t guarantee that this will also remain the case in the coming months,” he said. In March Turkey agreed to take back all irregular refugees from Greece while allowing a certain number of asylum seekers to travel to the EU legally in exchange for funding worth €6 billion ($6.63bn) from the EU and talks on visa-free travel. Media agencies