Cyprus is entering a state of emergency for immigrants, Interior Minister Nikos Nouris said on Friday, who sent a written statement to the European Commission yesterday, noting that there is no other possibility to receive additional informal migrants.
In statements to Sotira, Mr. Nouris said that "last week we have been receiving a wave of arrivals on a daily basis by sea from the southern coast of Syria and especially from the port of Tartu. This situation together with the overcrowding presented by the Reception Centers, have forced me to send yesterday afternoon, a written step to the European Commission informing them that Cyprus is entering a state of emergency regarding immigration and with no other possibility of receiving additional migrants ".
He added that "at the same time we call on the European Commission to intervene immediately and actively to prevent illegal departures from the Syrian coast and especially from the port of Tartu, in order to minimize the problem we are facing."
Asked about the delays in the controls of informal immigrants arriving in Cyprus, the Minister replied that "there are no delays in the controls. "Since January 1, we have served almost 4 rejections of asylum applications to those from the so-called safe countries." He noted that "the problem is that rejection of asylum applications must be accompanied by expedited return procedures, returns which are extremely difficult to make from a small country such as Cyprus because there are no transnational and bilateral agreements with a number of third countries. ».
It is for this reason, he continued, "that this is a firm, permanent and urgent request of the Republic of Cyprus to the European Union and for which we have the support of many European countries, that is, these agreements for the return of third-country nationals should be be made centrally by the European Union and on the condition that third countries should undertake to receive their nationals from all European countries. It is something that we discussed last week in the Council of Ministers of the Interior, in the presence for the first time, of Ministers from the African continent and seen from sub-Saharan Africa, from which we have a lot of immigrant arrivals ".
Answering another question, the Minister of Interior answered that the ship that arrived from Lebanon last Sunday "was returned to Lebanon because we have exactly a bilateral agreement. However, the vast majority, and especially of these arrivals that arrive in our country since last Saturday, are recorded by the Port Police, that they are from the southern coast of Syria ".
According to Mr. Nouris, "I was and am very specific towards the European Commission, regarding the situation in which the country is but also about what specifically we want from the European Commission. "There are possibilities and our country must be supported as a European state facing this problem."
Asked whether there is co-operation with the British Bases to further control the line of opposition for the arrival of migrants from the occupied territories, given that today 14 people arrived in Avgorou, the Home Secretary said that "so far with the British Bases we have a very good cooperation and we had no particular problems with transit. I want to hope that this event was accidental, which is in the process of investigation. "
Asked about the length of time that informal immigrants remain in the boats with which they reach the shores of the Republic until their data are checked, Nikos Nouris replied that "at this time we do not have the ability to receive others. Therefore, at this time our guide and concern is to see how we will manage the situation ".
He added that "the previous boat that arrived and on which several children were aboard, the migrants were omitted, because the possibilities of entering Pournara are zero and we had to set up a makeshift settlement, with tents in the area of Protaras. "This is certainly not what we want, in order to deal with this humanitarian crisis."
The Minister of Interior also stated that "it is not the intention of the Government to make Cyprus a vast camp of immigrants. We have specific capabilities, we are in a good mood to help people in real need, but at the same time we want to send a clear message that our capabilities are not inexhaustible and we have already passed these reception capabilities a long time ago ".
In another question, Mr. Nouris reiterated that "from the European Union, in addition to the information that Cyprus is now in a state of emergency for immigration, with zero possibility of receiving other migrants, we have requested the immediate intervention of the European Union with a specific "way to control the southern coast of Syria so that there are no additional departures of illegal immigrants from Syria, with particular reference to the port of Tartu from where we find that there are continuous outflows."