The Republic of Cyprus has been facing unusually large migratory flows in recent years, Interior Minister Nikos Nouris said tonight, adding that in 2021 alone, 85% of the more than 13 thousand asylum applications entered the free areas from the occupied territories irregularly.
In his address to the presentation of the book "The Demographic and Immigration Problem in Cyprus" held tonight at the House of Arts and Letters in Larnaca, read by Government Spokesman Marios Pelekanos, he said that "Cyprus has been challenged in recent years by a flood of indiscriminate migratory flows. The Republic of Cyprus is facing unusually large migratory flows."
He added that "for the fifth consecutive year, it is the first member state to receive the highest number of refugees and applicants for international protection in proportion to its population, with 4.6% of its population. For the year 2021 alone, 13,235 asylum applications have been submitted, 85% of which concern persons who have irregularly entered the free territories from the occupied territories via the Green Line, with the vast majority of them coming from the so-called "safe countries" and abusing the asylum system."
According to the Interior Minister, this practice "minimizes the ability of the Republic to respond to those who really need our care and hospitality, the real refugees, such as the citizens of Ukraine who are currently experiencing war and refugeeism from the latest events that we are all watching in amazement."
Referring to the KYKEM book, Mr. Nouris said that "this is nothing but the diary of a group of our fellow citizens who are characterized and recognized for their contribution to the public and who, with courage and courage, dare to finger the problems of our society, but also the distortions and mistakes of politics and politicians, putting the common good above all".
The new project of KYKEM, he noted, "aspires to be the kick-start for a change in the pile of problems that our country is facing demographically, in the immigration burden that Cyprus is experiencing as a result of the thousands of illegal immigrants flooding the country, up to the practice of instrumentalization of the migration issue by Turkey in a new hybrid threat against Cyprus and the conscious effort to alter the demography of the island by channeling illegal immigrants to the areas controlled by the Republic".
As Mr. Nouris said, "the members of KYKEM, together with all our conscientious fellow citizens who share the same concerns, have over the years supported in every possible way the government's efforts to address the migration issue, realizing that migration is a national issue and as such we have to manage it."
A never-ending issue, he said, "with multiple aspects, both visible and invisible, with a humanitarian physiognomy on the one hand, but also dimensions that confirm the action of migrant trafficking circuits that instrumentalise human suffering and their need for a better life".
He also noted that "the existence of voices such as the CYCM and the elaboration of such works, which will remain valuable texts in the archives of history, contribute significantly to the improvement of our policies, through the criticism that is unswervingly exercised, but also to the better treatment of such serious issues as migration, through the proposals submitted and the demands that are courageously put forward in the decision-making centres."
Source: CNA
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