The latest statistics from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada demonstrate that a lot of Turks want to escape their repressive country and start a new life in Canada.

Through the first nine months of 2018, nearly 10 percent of all the refugee claims accepted involved people from Turkey.

There were 1,095 claims accepted and 121 rejected, with another 12 abandoned. 

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 110,000 public officials have been dismissed or suspended in Turkey since July 2016. That's when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan imposed a state of emergency following a failed coup attempt.

Tens of thousands have been arrested, filling the country's jails.

"Hundreds of media outlets, associations, foundations, private hospitals, and educational establishments that the government shut down by decree remained closed in 2017, their assets confiscated without compensation," Human Rights Watch stated on its website.

The second-highest number of Canadian refugee claims accepted in the first nine months of 2018 involved people from Pakistan. 

IRB statistics show that 538 claims were accepted from that country and 208 were refused.

Amnesty International's country report on Pakistan for 2017–18 concluded that a "crackdown on freedom of expression intensified". Five bloggers who disappeared and their supporters were smeared as "blasphemers".

"Minorities continued to face discrimination in the enjoyment of economic and social rights," the report stated. "Attempts to restrict child marriage were blocked by Parliament. Killings of women continued in so-called 'honour' crimes, despite the 2016 law criminalizing the practice."

The third-highest number of successful refugee claims, 477, involved people from Nigeria. However, 885 Nigerian claims were refused from January to September.

The only other countries that generated more than 400 successful refugee claims in Canada over that period were China (457) and Eritrea (413).

According to Amnesty International, China is detaining up to one million mostly Muslim people in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. China also continues to conceal the extent of the death penalty, Amnesty International stated, "despite more than four decades of requests from UN bodies and the international community for more information".

Eritrea also received a scatching human-rights report, with Amnesty International noting that the government imposes indefinite military national service.

"A 'shoot-to-kill' policy remained in place for anyone evading capture and attempting to cross the border into Ethiopia," the human-rights group stated. "Children close to conscription age caught trying to leave were sent to Sawa National Service training camp."

The highest acceptance rate among countries with more than 300 claims involved people from Burundi—306 refugees were accepted and only eight claims were denied.

Syrians also had a high acceptance rate, with 320 given the green light and only 14 being denied.

One of the lowest acceptance rates involved Americans. Only two claims were accepted and 189 were refused in the first nine months of 2018.

In 2017, the top five countries for accepted refugee claims in Canada were Turkey (1,247), Eritrea (803), Syria (786), Nigeria (764), and Burundi (718).