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Report
Can Cyprus cope with the current flow of asylum seekers?
euronews (in English)
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28/06/2024
Their massive arrival, especially until spring, has motivated a heated debate about the limits of reception in the country. Euronews Witness travelled there to listen to very different points of views.
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00:00
Every day you hear someone killed, someone dead, someone killed, someone dead, someone have a bomb.
00:07
We have to preserve the character of the country.
00:11
We are not dead, we are not alive. We are just in between.
00:17
They affect our society in any way.
00:31
This year, a significant number of asylum seekers have arrived in the Republic of Cyprus.
00:37
Their massive arrival, especially until spring, has motivated a heated debate
00:42
about the limits of accommodation in the country and how to face the situation.
00:47
This report begins in the center that welcomes immigrants as soon as they arrive on the island.
01:01
On the day of my visit, about 300 asylum seekers resided here.
01:06
At the beginning of spring, there were about 1,100.
01:10
Most come from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen or Sudan.
01:17
If I get back to Sudan, I have two choices.
01:21
Or I enter the army, or I enter another army.
01:25
If I enter this or this, then I will be killed.
01:30
I left it to get rights and peace and freedom.
01:35
I have dreams, I have a future.
01:38
Here they are sheltered while their asylum applications are being processed.
01:42
They are not allowed to leave.
01:46
But this was not always the case. Until recently, they could leave the enclosure.
01:51
Then the problems began.
01:54
The owners of a nearby fertilizer company claim that some immigrants stole their material.
02:02
Five in the morning, three people went to the station.
02:06
They left with beds, blankets, everything.
02:11
And now, five in the morning.
02:14
They were sleeping inside, they were afraid, and I went out.
02:18
I called the police, but nothing happened.
02:21
They took me to the police station.
02:25
12,000 euros.
02:27
12,000 euros.
02:31
The situation around this center illustrates the migratory challenges that Cyprus faces.
02:37
Many fear that the arrival of immigrants, mostly Muslims,
02:41
poses not only socio-economic and security challenges,
02:44
but also an identity, demographic and existential threat to the country,
02:48
whose northern area has been occupied by the Turkish army since 1974.
02:57
Fears are evident in a town near the center.
03:01
Cyprus simply cannot face this constant flow of immigrants
03:05
arriving by sea or from the occupied north, maintains its mayor.
03:12
Cyprus' population is about 800,000 people.
03:16
If we have 250,000 people here who are foreigners,
03:21
it means that 25% to 30% are foreigners.
03:25
If we cannot tell them to go away because of the European Union policies,
03:31
it means that in 10 years' period of time,
03:34
bringing here their wives and kids,
03:36
there will be more than a million.
03:38
We are turning to Lebanon.
03:40
We want to stay Greek Cypriots here in Cyprus.
03:47
Cyprus, Lebanon
03:52
This other center welcomes immigrants whose asylum applications are considered admissible.
04:00
About 800 people receive accommodation, food, education, medicines,
04:05
and pocket money here, and can leave freely during the day.
04:09
Up to 96% of their asylum applications will end up being deducted.
04:13
We were interviewed, but they rejected us.
04:16
They didn't give us our papers.
04:18
They took us to the police, but they didn't tell us anything.
04:22
Every time we leave, it's been four months,
04:24
and they only give us new applications.
04:27
In response to the recent massive arrivals of Syrians,
04:31
the center is being expanded.
04:33
The government also suspended for 14 months
04:37
the examination of all Syrian citizens' asylum applications.
04:41
Syria in 2024 is definitely not the same as Syria in 2012, 2013, 2014.
04:49
There are a lot of areas that are safe.
04:53
We want to pass the message that Cyprus cannot continue to accept Syrians by the thousands.
05:00
No matter what the pressure is,
05:02
we do not change our policy and our effort to stay between the humanitarian spectrum, let's say.
05:14
Anybody who deserves to be recognized will be recognized.
05:19
While they wait for that eventual recognition as refugees,
05:23
once outside the center,
05:25
the asylum applicants receive a monthly assignment
05:28
and are encouraged to integrate into society.
05:29
But to stop a so-called effect,
05:32
the government forbids them to look for work during the nine months after their arrival.
05:37
Without legal employment or family support,
05:40
many depend on humanitarian centers to obtain clothing or school supplies.
05:45
This woman arrived in Cyprus from Afghanistan 10 months ago.
05:49
I'm suffering with health issues.
05:52
Because of that, I'm not able to have a normal life.
05:55
And I'm just a single mom.
05:56
God forbid, God forbid, if anything is happening to me,
06:00
who's going to take care of my son?
06:02
He's underage.
06:04
The center also offers basic food.
06:08
Most asylum applicants live well below the poverty line,
06:13
explain the managers.
06:15
Everyone assumes that because most migrants have telephones and smartphones
06:20
and there's a lot of information, that they know everything.
06:23
But they don't.
06:24
The smugglers or people along the way will give them bad information,
06:27
including the idea that if you have a child in Cyprus or in the European Union,
06:32
that child is automatically granted EU either residency or citizenship.
06:37
And this is not the case.
06:39
And so, unfortunately, and a lot of women, truth be told,
06:42
also face violence, sexual violence, rape,
06:45
in this very difficult and delicate journey.
06:54
The Orthodox Church of Cyprus has a very clear point of view on immigration.
06:59
It accuses Turkey of trying to alter the demography of the country.
07:04
Archbishop Georgios himself, the spiritual leader of the church,
07:07
has agreed to speak with me.
07:12
The archbishop tells me first that the church welcomes the needy with fraternal love.
07:19
But due to the diplomatic dispute with Turkey,
07:22
the problem in Cyprus is very different, he says.
07:27
They affect our society in any way.
07:32
They change our customs.
07:34
These people have different customs and customs.
07:36
They change our schools,
07:39
because they enter our schools with a different mentality,
07:43
with a different level of education.
07:45
It is not the fact that in their majority there is another religion,
07:52
which again affects our society.
07:54
It is also the fact that we are a place with many problems of our own
08:03
and we cannot accommodate such a large number of foreign people who come here.
08:09
I am very happy.
08:12
Pressured by the church, the far right and a growing social discontent,
08:17
the government works to increase voluntary returns.
08:23
Every month, about a thousand illegal immigrants agree to return to their countries.
08:28
Cyprus is the fourth member state of the European Union with more voluntary returns,
08:33
tells me the Minister of the Interior.
08:35
Now he wants to advance even more,
08:36
although the country faces a shortage of labor in sectors such as tourism.
08:41
Shortage of labor should be solved with legal migration.
08:45
And that's what we are advocating in Europe,
08:47
and even Europe now is advocating the so-called legal pathways.
08:51
So we strongly believe that we should combat illegal migration,
08:54
because we think that member states should decide under international law
08:59
who is going to cross their borders and not smuggling groups and traffickers.
09:04
And yet there are stories of successful integration.
09:09
Victim of torture in her native Cameroon,
09:13
Justine received the refugee status in 2022.
09:17
She manages this local tailor shop about to retire.
09:22
She also plans to turn it into a community center for women victims of torture.
09:29
My dream is not just making a living,
09:31
it's to empower ladies, impact their life.
09:37
I would be happy to see someone in the future saying that
09:41
I became a fashion designer because of this space.
09:45
That would be my happiness.
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