Cyprus asks the EU to demand from Turkey the presence of Frontex to control flights to the occupied territories in order to stop this flow of irregular migrants to the occupied territories and then to the free areas, Interior Minister Nikos Nouris said.
In statements following a meeting at the Ministry of Interior, during which the migration issue was discussed with a delegation of the Ecological Citizens' Co-operation Movement, headed by the President of the Movement, Haralambos Theopeptou, in the context of his contacts with the parliamentary parties, Mr. Nouris said that "in the first quarter of 2022, unfortunately, the numbers are extremely aggravating", as "almost 5,000 people have applied who are the new arrivals", as he noted.
Asked whether there has been a response for assistance from Frontex to address the flow of irregular migrants through the Green Line, Mr. Nouris said that "we are not even claiming that Frontex is present on the Green Line because it is not in the terms of its mandate to monitor a ceasefire line but the external border."
"We want Frontex to monitor the southern Turkish coast, especially the port of Mersin and Antalya from where the irregular flows originate, but also the Istanbul airport, for which we have claimed the presence of Frontex officers to control flights to the occupied territories," he said.
According to the Interior Minister, it has been amply proven that the vast majority of those arriving from Africa via Istanbul arrive at the illegal airport of Tymbou, hence the documentary evidence sent with the evidence last week to the European Commission. Nouris said that he explained in detail the dimension of the problem that exists and especially the recent deterioration, as he said, which is observed in our country with the rapid increase and the continuous and systematic crossing of the green line of a large number of migrants, all coming from Turkey and the vast majority of them coming almost from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr. Nouris also said that he has informed the Movement of the fact that they have also made the corresponding representations to the European Commission and added that they have also discussed "the procedures that the Ministry of Interior and other relevant departments are following, focusing on the two major issues that are our major objectives for limiting illegal immigrants."
Referring to the first big issue, the Home Secretary said that this is maximising returns to a number of countries, while in relation to the second issue he said that this is "the issue of Green Line surveillance, something that the Home Office and the Government need to do in an effective way to stop this huge increase in numbers" of migrants.
"It is well known that we attribute whatever difficulties there are in managing migratory flows to the large volume of migrants as they continue to still record the sad privilege of being for the fifth consecutive year the EU member state with the largest number of migrants as a proportion of the population," he stressed.
Nouris said that "it is something we want to reduce soon", as was the case in Greece, he said, "which succeeded in drastically reducing migratory flows within a year."
"We would like to see something similar happen in our country so that we can manage these people who are really in need in the appropriate way that we know how to manage, as we are doing right now, for example, with the Ukrainian refugees who are arriving in our country and who are an additional issue in terms of management, because of the fact that we already have a large migratory burden but there is a clear distinction that these people are refugees, they have been forcibly expelled from the country.
He added, however, that "those who come to our country simply to claim a better future, unfortunately this small country cannot lift those numbers and those whose applications are rejected will have to be returned to their countries so that we can be effective to those in real need."
For his part, Theopeptou thanked the Minister for the "very extensive briefing" they had on the issue of migrants, adding that Mr. Nouris explained the numbers and gave them the figures.
"We had the opportunity to discuss extensively the problems that exist in terms of the returns that are made through the legal procedure and the difficulties to be implemented but also the large numbers of migrants, the entry points and the problems that exist with their management," he added.
Mr. Theopeptou expressed the view that the EU should help, especially with regard to returns, he said, "because there are many problems that the Republic of Cyprus is facing with this process which it cannot solve on its own."
He said that large numbers are a problem, adding, however, that "we also have a moral obligation to treat people properly."
This, he continued, is one of the issues on which "we have to show our sensitivity."
Source: CNA
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