Cypriot MP at OSCE: Illegal immigrants come through Turkey

Around 99% of illegal immigrants, who arrive to Cyprus, come through Turkey, Cypriot member of the House of Representatives Christos Stylianides has said, addressing the annual Fall Meetings of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Toronto.

Stylianides referred to the problems faced by Cyprus regarding illegal immigration, saying that due to its geographic position, Cyprus has become in the past few years a country of a disproportional number of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, adding that Cyprus ranks first in the EU regarding asylum applications in comparison to its population.

He emphasized on the fact that the Republic of Cyprus cannot control its northern seashores, which are under Turkish occupation since the Turkish invasion of 1974.

“As a result of the Turkish occupation of the northern part of Cyprus, the Cypriot authorities cannot control their northern shores and an increasing number of illegal immigrants come to the government controlled areas through the Turkish occupied areas and the buffer zone”, Stylianides stressed.

He added that 99% of illegal immigrants come, through Turkey, to the occupied areas, or through the British bases.

“Unfortunately, Turkey has not responded until today to the repeated calls of the Republic of Cyprus to cooperate for the limitation of the problem and this has recently been noted in a report adopted by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs”, he noted.

He also referred to the efforts made by the French EU presidency regarding the establishment of a common strategy on immigration.

Cyprus participated in the OSCE annual Fall Meetings with one more MP, Athina Kyriakidou.

Around 200 parliamentarians representing 47 OSCE countries attended the Fall Meetings, which were hosted by the Parliament of Canada.