NICOSIA: Cyprus has suspended the processing of asylum applications from Syrian nationals following a sharp rise in irregular arrivals this month, officials said on Sunday.
More than one thousand people have arrived in Cyprus on vessels from Lebanon since the start of this month amid deepening tensions in the Middle East. It has triggered demands from Nicosia to its European Union (EU) partners to do more to help Lebanon, as well as reconsider the status of war-hit Syria, which is at present considered unsafe to repatriate asylum seekers.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters that thisis an emergency step, it is a difficult decision to protect the interests of the country.
Christodoulides and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen later discussed the possibility of giving a reinforced package of economic assistance to Lebanon, a Cypriot government spokesman said in a statement. For this purpose, it was agreed they would jointly visit Lebanon after a preparatory trip by Commission officials, the statement added.
Lebanon, in the throes of a severe economic crisis, hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.
Asylum Seekers in Cyprus
Cyprus, the EU’s easternmost country and the closest to the Middle East, lies about 160 km west of the shores of Lebanon or Syria. It recorded over two thousand arrivals by sea in the first three months of 2024, compared to just seventy-eight over the corresponding period in 2023.
