(AFP) European Union member Cyprus said Friday it has asked the bloc to review whether Syria remains an unsafe country to which member states should be barred from repatriating asylum-seekers.
The move follows a flurry of racially-motivated attacks on foreigners in recent weeks amid growing anti-migrant sentiment on the Mediterranean island.
Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said he would try to persuade the EU and the United Nations to end Syria’s status as an unsafe country for refugees to be returned to.
“We, as Cyprus, consider and find it conducive, along with other member states, that the status of Syria should be re-evaluated,” he told reporters.
