The Minister of the Interior, Mr. Konstantinos Ioannou, made statements on immigration today, on the sidelines of the regional meeting with the Communities of the Paphos District.
Asked to say whether the measures and decisions taken by the Government in relation to the issue facing Paphos with immigration, the Minister of the Interior stated that the Ministry deals with immigration in its entirety. As he noted, this is an issue that concerns the whole of Cyprus, not just Paphos District, despite the particular problems observed in Paphos.
"As we've seen repeatedly over the last six months, we're getting immigration results. The arrivals of irregular immigrants have decreased by 50%, from 12.000 last year in the same period, this year less than 6.000 have arrived. This is due to the actions we have taken, but also external factors", Mr. Ioannou pointed out. He expressed cautious optimism because, as he explained, “with immigration anything can be changed by external factors at any time. "Returns are also very important. We have increased refunds by 50%, from 3.200 to 4.800. For the first time in the history of emigration to Cyprus in the last four months, more people have left than came," he said.
At the same time, referring to other measures being taken, Mr. Minister noted that the facilities are being upgraded with renovations at the "Pournara" First Reception Center. He added that one of the problems that exist at the moment is the lack of booking rooms, saying that at the moment we have a capacity for 126 people and the construction of the new pre-departure center, with a capacity of 800 people, has started, which is expected to help a lot.
In addition, asylum application processing times have been accelerated from nine-plus months to three, making Cyprus an unattractive destination. "We have already taken a series of actions, hoping that the situation will improve, and we are already seeing the results," he noted.
In relation to the arrivals from Syria, the Minister of the Interior stated that it is a big issue for Cyprus, given that Syria is considered an unsafe country and therefore no country in the world can deport Syrians. “There is this increased flow of boats (including Syrians) from Lebanon. There is cooperation with Lebanon, but some boats also come from Syria, which is why I have put the request to the European Union, to start a discussion to review the regime of Syria. There are areas that are considered by the European Asylum Organization to be already safe areas. As a Cypriot, I believe that it should be reviewed with the aim of officially recognizing these areas as safe, so that there and wherever we are allowed to proceed with the return of Syrians to their country", pointed out Mr. Ioannou.
