Asylum seekers housed in nursing home after night in the park

THE THREE Kurdish families who spent Wednesday and Thursday living in a Nicosia park have been found temporary accommodation in an old people’s home, Cyprus Human Rights Institute member Vartan Malian said yesterday.
The nine asylum seekers are being temporarily housed at the Ayios Pavlos Nursing Home in Ayios Dhometios, but their long-term future remains uncertain, Malian warned.
“The welfare services found this accommodation, but the problem is still not solved,” he said. “They are accommodated all together in two rooms,
they are being given meals and there is hot water, but by Monday or Tuesday they (may) have to leave,” he added.
The asylum seekers, who came from Turkey, had been living in a Nicosia guest house since they arrived in February, but were evicted on Wednesday, after the welfare services failed to pay their accommodation bill.
Interior Minister Andreas Christou said yesterday that if the families had applied for asylum, then the welfare services were obliged to pay for their living expenses until their application for asylum had been accepted.
But Malian said the families had still not received the living allowance owed to them.
“The welfare services said that on Thursday that the balance of money owed to them was posted to the guest house where they were staying. It wasn’t there (yesterday), but I hope it will be there for them on Monday,” he said.
He also stressed that the responsibility of finding alternative accommodation in the long-term was down to the asylum seekers.
“It is now down to them. The welfare services want to see a copy of the housing agreement, but it’s a question of finding someone to take them in, first.”
The owner of the nursing home told the Cyprus Mail that the Kurdish families were now comfortable, following their ordeal.
“The welfare services called and asked if I had space for them. I saw the three children starving and I felt so sorry for them all, and I agreed to take them in,” she said. “I do whatever I can for them, and they are treated like my other guests.
“Many other homes refused to take them in,” she added. “Of course they may stay here until they find somewhere else; but there is some pressure for space, I don’t have that many rooms.”
The Interior Minister stressed yesterday that the government “follows EU policies on asylum seekers”. He also dismissed charges that the island’s infrastructure was insufficient for coping with asylum seekers.
“I don’t agree,” he said. “Generally, the government has quite a good infrastructure. Of course, we must reinforce it, and make it better, but no one has been refused help.”
Nobody at the welfare service was available for comment.

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.