Cyprus ready to assist

Cyprus is ready to repatriate its citizens from Syria and Lebanon as well as facilitate European Union and third country nationals, a foreign ministry official said on Monday.

Stavros Avgoustides, head of the consular affairs directorate, said Cypriots have already been asked to leave the two neighbouring countries but no requests for assistance have been received so far as airports were still open.

The ministry has warned Cypriots against all travel to Syria and all but essential travel to Lebanon, especially those areas bordering Syria.

The foreign ministry official said Cyprus is prepared to provide a safe transit point, if necessary, to people fleeing the troubled areas.

“There are special plans to facilitate European and third country citizens who will use Cyprus as a transit point,” Avgoustides said. “We are ready to tackle such an event. We have done so successfully in the past.”

Thousands of Europeans and other nationals were evacuated through Cyprus in the summer of 2006 as fighting broke out in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

Due to the instability in the region, Cypriot officials are continuously assessing the situation together with the EU and other governments.

“We are co-operating with them as well as the Americans, Canadians and Australians,” Avgoustides said.

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.