Cyprus asks Ankara to crack down on asylum seekers

CYPRUS is asking for the co-operation of Ankara in combating the rising problem of illegal immigration.

Interior Minister Andreas Christou has said that Nicosia is requesting the conclusion of an agreement from the EU with Turkey, in which Ankara agrees to eliminate and control the trafficking of immigrants through its territory.

Christou was on his way to Britain to attend the Informal Justice and Home Affairs Council, at which issues of immigration, illegal immigration and political asylum would be discussed.
“We have achieved important things during 2004 and 2005, but numbers continue to remain high,” said the Minister, when asked about illegal immigration in Cyprus.

This is mainly due to the fact that asylum seekers are pouring into Cyprus’ government controlled areas from the northern Turkish occupied part of the country.

“We want the EU to come to an agreement with Turkey, a candidate state, so that Ankara can eliminate and control the trafficking of these people through its territory,” he said.

Most political asylum applicants are already living in Cyprus, most of them being students and employees.

“They are obviously economic migrants who chose this method to extend their stay in Cyprus,” he concluded.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.