Nicosia: Cypriot authorities have relocated dozens of immigrants from the island’s buffer zone to government-run refugee reception centres, ending their four-month standoff in makeshift tents under UN supervision.
On Saturday, Nikolas Ioannidis, Deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection, confirmed that nearly 70 immigrants from Somalia, Sudan, Congo, Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan were transferred to state facilities, Xinhua news agency reported.
The decision followed agreements with third countries, which will accept an unspecified number of the migrants, Ioannidis told CyBC state broadcaster.
Those not accepted by other nations will face deportation to their home countries, he added.
The immigrants had entered the buffer zone in mid-June after being transported by human traffickers from the Turkish-controlled northern part of Cyprus.
The buffer zone, separating the island’s Greek and Turkish Cypriot parts, has been under the oversight of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) since its establishment following a Turkish military operation against Cyprus in 1974.
Initially, Cypriot authorities refused to allow the migrants into government-controlled territory, citing concerns that the buffer zone could become a corridor for irregular migration. During the over four-month standoff, the immigrants were housed in makeshift facilities provided by the UN.
Both UNFICYP and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had urged the Cypriot government to grant the migrants access to asylum procedures and international protection.
Additionally, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) requested the Cypriot government provide the migrants with “effective access to asylum procedures and adequate reception conditions”.
Local media attributes the government’s eventual decision to pressure from the ECHR. However, Ioannidis emphasised that the relocation aligns with Cyprus’ migration policy.
“Our position remains unchanged: the Green Line will not become a migrant route,” he noted, stressing that “we will not legalise immigration through the buffer zone by accepting these people”.
–IANS
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