Due to recent changes in migration routes in the Mediterranean Sea, the tiny island of Cyprus has been inundated with migrants to such an extent that it now has the most migrant arrivals relative to its population in the entire EU.
Migrants held up on the Turkish mainland can easily hop on a flight to the Turkish-controlled northern part of Cyprus before making their way by sea or by air to the Greek section of the island, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.
According to Christoffer Wendick, a reporter from SVT, Cyprus has become the easiest way to reach the European Union.
A flight traveling from the Turkish mainland to the Turkish part of Cyprus “is almost like a domestic flight,” Wendick said.
The Cyprus Mail reported last month that if migration continues on at its current rate that the tiny island could have as many as 100,000 migrants within a mere five years, with migrants making up as much as 3.5 percent of the total population.
“You understand what this means for a country like Cyprus,” Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides said.
“We are currently experiencing the largest population displacements ever seen and according to the UN 250 million to 300 million people are migrating each year,” the minister added.
Petrides urged EU member states to assist Cyprus by taking some of the migrants off its hands.
“Not many of them are refugees. These are economic immigrants who abuse or exploit this particularity,” Petrides said.
Over the summer, Interior Minister Petrides and the Cypriot government asserted that the Turkish government could be assisting in the illegal trafficking migrants into the Greek part of the island.
Petrides also accused Northern Cypriot authorities of facilitating criminal human trafficking rings, declaring that this kind of behavior “cannot be tolerated at a European level”.
Last week, 131 Syrian migrants arrived by boat to the Greek side of Cyprus. Of those who were allowed to disembark from the boat, 118 were men, four were women, and nine were children.
RELATED ARTICLES
- Hungary Becomes First EU Country to Congratulate Putin for Winning the 'Elections'
- EU to use Russian assets to buy arms for Ukraine
- Europe to Begin Food Crisis War Games
- SHOCK! Hungary's PM Calls for Violence in EU capital Brussels Against EU Leaders
- Russia tells EU to F*** Off, saying they will Not Return Romania's 91.5 Tons of Stolen Gold
Loading ...
