Cyprus is a country distinguished for its hospitality and those in need, regardless of their nationality, can find it in our country, Interior Minister Nikos Nouris said today. He noted that small Cyprus cannot accommodate these large numbers and those whose applications are rejected will have to be returned to their countries so that, he said, "we can be effective to those in real need".
The Interior Minister had a meeting with the President of the Ecologist-Civic Coalition Movement, Mr. Charalambos Theopeptou and a delegation of the party, as part of a cycle of contacts with parliamentary parties for information on the management of migration.
After the meeting, in statements to journalists, Mr. Nouris said that he had explained "in great detail the dimension of the problem and especially the great deterioration observed in recent weeks 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."
The actions are known, he said and informed that "the corresponding representations have also been made to the European Commission."
He added that they have analyzed and discussed during the meeting "the procedures that the Ministry of Interior is following and the other relevant departments, focusing on the other major issues, which are our major objectives, to limit the number of irregular migrants."
He added that they have analyzed and discussed during the meeting "the procedures that the Ministry of Interior is following and the other relevant departments, focusing on the other major issues, which are our major objectives, to limit the number of irregular migrants.
Referring to the objectives, he said that first is the issue of maximising returns to a number of countries and second is the issue of surveillance of the Green Line, which, he said, "for the Home Office and the Government, it is imperative that this is done in an effective way to stop this huge increase in numbers".
Whatever difficulties exist in the management of migratory flows, Mr. Nouris added, "we attribute them to the large volume of migrants, since, unfortunately, we continue to record the sad privilege of being, for the fifth consecutive year, the country with the largest number of migrants in proportion to population."
"It is something we want to reduce soon," the Minister stressed, citing as an example Greece, which has succeeded in drastically reducing migratory flows in just one year.
Something similar, he argued, "we would like something similar to happen in our country so that we can manage these people, those who are really in need, in the appropriate way, in the way we know how, as we are doing at the moment, for example, with the Ukrainian refugees arriving in our country."
Speaking about the Ukrainians, he said that "they 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 in terms of the fact that these people are refugees, they have been forcibly expelled from their country because of the Russian invasion." He added that there is a different way of dealing with refugees in general compared to economic migrants.
"We have said that Cyprus is a country distinguished for its hospitality," he said. He clarified that "those in need, regardless of nationality, can find it in our country, but those who come to our country simply to claim a better future, unfortunately this small country cannot accommodate these 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."
Asked by a reporter if the number of new asylum applications is 5000 as of January 2022 and whether we hope that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) will contribute to the surveillance of the Green Line, the Minister confirmed that the numbers in the first quarter of the year are extremely onerous, saying that almost 5000 people, who are new arrivals, have applied.
"We are not even claiming that FRONTEX is present on the green line," he stressed, explaining that it is not in the terms of its mandate to monitor a ceasefire line, but the external border.
He noted that it is a specific request to FRONTEX. "We want it to supervise the southern Turkish coast, especially the port of Mersina and Antalya, where the irregular flows emanate from, and of course the Istanbul airport where we have claimed the presence of FRONTEX officials to control flights to the occupied territories."
He reiterated that also through the document sent last week to the European Commission it is amply demonstrated that "the vast majority of those arriving from Africa, via Istanbul, arrive at Tymbou airport". "We therefore ask the EU to demand from Troucia 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."
In his own statements, the President of the Ecologist-Civic Co-operation Movement, Mr. Theopeptou, after thanking the Minister for the extensive briefing on the issue of migrants, said that figures and data were given during the meeting, while the problem faced by the Republic of Cyprus in relation to the difficulty of implementing the return of third country nationals to their countries of origin was explained.
He discussed the entry points of migrants and the problem of managing the large numbers, arguing that the EU should intervene to help, especially with regard to returns.
He noted that there is also a moral obligation to treat these people properly and show our sensitivity.
(EFYs)
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