[Cyprus Times] MFA: Green Line surveillance and returns are the Government's priorities for migration

Suffocatingly crowded Pournara with migrants Target migrant returns

The management and surveillance of the Green Line and the returns, with the active support of the EU, are the priorities of the Government, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Nouris, speaking on Monday evening at a conference of the EPP on "Migration: The problem, the people, the management".

Nouris also said the issue of migratory flows is not a party issue but a national one and despite the different approaches there must be rallying.

The minister said it is necessary to conclude EU agreements with third countries for safe returns and reiterated that the root cause of the problem in Cyprus is Turkey.

Nouris said our country has an undesirable first place in the EU when it comes to migration as 4.6% of its population are asylum seekers and migrants. He also said that asylum applications in our country are very different from other EU countries, according to Eurostat data. He noted that Cyprus has 9,671 applications per million population when in other frontline countries such as Greece and Malta, they do not exceed 2,000. As an indication, he said that in Greece the applications are 1,498 per million.

He spoke of a worsening situation at the end of 2021 when the authorities were asked to handle 13,550 applications and 85% of these are coming illegally from the Green Line and Turkey.

He spoke of a worsening situation at the end of 2021 when the authorities were asked to handle 13,550 applications and 85% of these are coming illegally from the Green Line and Turkey.

The MESO said it is also noteworthy that until 18 months ago the first ten arrival countries were Asian, except Syria which is the first country of origin, whereas in the last year the first five countries are African countries and in particular sub-Saharan Africa.

He said there are testimonies of people that cheap air tickets take them to Istanbul and from there to occupied Tymbou where smugglers wait for them for a certain fee and take them to the Green Line.

Nouris said that since 2015 52,000 persons have applied for international protection and half of them come from safe countries i.e. they are not refugees.

He said that since 2015 52,000 persons have applied for international protection and half of them come from safe countries i.e. they are not refugees.

The Minister said that 2022 started with

not good omens and that we had 1,000 new applicants in the first days of January with Pournara currently hosting 2,300 people and 277 unaccompanied children.

He said that we are doing everything humanly possible, but our capacity is not inexhaustible. Responding to various criticisms, he said that we respect the right to support those in need and we know very well what a refugee means, but phenomena with Syrian and African factions cannot be tolerated and we will not let them continue to happen.

The FM said he reiterated to his EU counterparts that we need additional support, not only money but further understanding for solidarity.

In this area, he said, we want Europe's lights on Cyprus and expressed satisfaction because a joint declaration of the FDFA states that any measures at the external border must also be taken at the Green Line.

He also called on those who criticise the measures at the Green Line to put forward their own suggestions for preventing inflows from that point, in addition to physical barriers and monitoring.

On traffickers, he said that while the parliament passed a bill to toughen penalties, we have yet to see strict penalties from courts , expressing hope that these will be in place to give a stern message to traffickers.

He said that our efforts are continuous and uninterrupted at national and European level and that despite Europe being on our side, we have to manage the issue of Turkey in a different way.

It is not acceptable, he said, for Turkey to receive millions but to turn a deaf ear to the fact that it has been proven that Turkey is pushing migrants through the occupied territories.

The MFA said that 16,500 applications were examined last year and 10,000 were rejected.[/B] He said he had asked his French counterpart to help with channels to French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa for voluntary returns.

He also said that the problem of sham marriages and sham students had been reduced and that in the last five years the EU had supported Cyprus with 117 million euros. but another 178 million euros in aid came from Cypriot taxpayers to cover the huge needs.

Turkey is waging a hybrid war against the EU, Cyprus and Greece over the migration issue, says Sizopoulos

In his intervention, EPP President Marinos Sizopoulos said that Turkey is exploiting the flow of migrants as a form of hybrid war against the EU and especially Cyprus and Greece, with the main aim of gaining political and economic benefits, creating powerful lobbies in European countries to influence their policies and deconstructing the social cohesion of Cyprus in particular, due to its small population size.

He also spoke of the formation in free Cyprus of a Muslim community, which he will then attempt to exploit in order to emerge as a force to protect its rights, as in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sizopoulos stressed that it is important from the outset to distinguish between political refugees and illegal economic migrants and spoke about the rights of refugees as defined by the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 Protocol.

He said that labour exploitation should be avoided and that there should be proportional dispersion on the basis of population data in all member countries of the Union, as well as avoiding the ghettoisation of these people.

The EPP President referred to a number of his party's recommendations for an effective response to the phenomenon, such as the installation of an electronic surveillance system at the ceasefire line to detect and prevent the illegal entry of economic migrants. We are pleased, he said, that this measure has already been rolled out, strengthening procedures for the swift and immediate repatriation of illegal immigrants, prohibiting those who come as students from subsequently applying for political asylum and accepting applications for political asylum only for political refugees.

He also spoke of the need to prevent the ghettoisation of migrants not through police measures but through qualitative development of the areas where they congregate and added that economic migrants should apply for entry to the Republic of Cyprus from their own country and not become victims of slave traders, without respecting even the most basic rights of workers. At the same time, we would be blinkered if we did not admit that immigration is also being exploited by far-right fascist parties in order to present it as the 'bogeyman', the cause of the increase in crime and poverty. Their ultimate goal is to justify their existence by creating a climate of xenophobia and racism, he said.

He said that the Republic of Cyprus' capabilities are specific and fully depend on the solidarity and assistance of the EU and noted that the sooner we react, the sooner we will solve the problem.

The conference was also addressed by the head of the European Commission delegation in Cyprus Myrto Zabarta, Commissioner for Children's Rights Despo Michailidou-Livaniou and Emilios Lambrou, former commander of YAM and member of the Board of Frontex.

Source: CNA

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