BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees says the number of asylum-seekers from Turkey has increased sharply in the first six months of this year compared with last year.

The office said Friday that 1,719 people from Turkey applied for asylum between January and June of this year — nearly the same number as in all of 2015, when 1,767 people registered for asylum.

It confirmed a report by the Tagesspiegel daily, which said the majority of asylum-seekers belong to the Kurdish minority in southeastern Turkey.

Clashes between the Kurdistan Workers' Party and Turkish security forces there resumed a year ago after a fragile peace process collapsed. The renewed conflict has led to the deaths of nearly 600 security personnel, more than 5,000 Kurdish militants and untold number of civilians.