Cyprus minister: Turkey complicit in migrant trafficking
Cyprus’ interior minister is accusing Turkey and Turkish Cypriots in the occupied north of the island of helping to traffic migrants to the internationally recognized southern part of the ethnically split island nation.
Constantinos Petrides told state radio Monday it’s “now certain” that a mass influx of migrants is arriving by aircraft to the breakaway north of Cyprus from Turkey.
He called Turkish Cypriot authorities facilitators of people trafficking rings, in collaboration with Turkey, adding that this “cannot be tolerated on a European level.”
Petrides said that, in May alone, 747 migrants crossed southward. Many of the arrivals are from Africa and Asia, with Syrians comprising only 25-30 percent of arrivals.
He said this can’t continue and that Cyprus’ policy of accepting third-country asylum claimants through the breakaway north will be reviewed. [AP]
