(Philenews) Cyprus has achieved the European Union’s highest return-to-arrival ratio at 179% whilst recording a 69% drop in asylum applications between 2022 and 2024, government officials announced on Wednesday. Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou and Deputy Minister for Migration Nicholas A. Ioannides presented […]
(Philenews) More than 1,300 Syrian nationals in Cyprus have requested voluntary repatriation following the fall of the Assad regime, officials announced today. Deputy Minister for Migration Nicholas A. Ioannides reported that 1,367 Syrians expressed interest in returning to Syria between December 9, […]
(AP) More than 1,000 Syrian nationals have withdrawn their applications for asylum or international protection because they intend to return to their homeland, while another 500 have already gone back, a Cypriot official said Friday. Cyprus’ Deputy Minister for Migration and International […]
(Philenews) A top secret file of Syrians who arrived as migrants on the island years before the Assad demise and had suspected links with HTS, now ruling the country, has resurfaced following the group’s emergence as the key player in the new […]
(Cyprus Mail) Six Syrians suspected of financing terrorism have allegedly orchestrated the transfer of hundreds of thousands of euros, it emerged on Friday. Investigation into the matter by the republic’s authorities is ongoing, following the release and re-detention of a number of […]
(Philenews) Cypriot authorities are grappling with a complex and potentially far-reaching investigation tied to the Middle East and terrorism, which has come to light this month. This inquiry, spearheaded by the republic’s intelligence service and the Police Counter-Terrorism Office, is now under […]
(Philenews) Police have begun proceedings to issue detention and deportation orders for eight Syrian nationals arrested last week on suspicion of terrorism offences. The five-day detention order for the suspects expires at midnight, with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, which led […]
(Cyprus Mail) Eight people in the Paphos and Limassol districts were arrested on suspicion of having funded an unnamed terrorist organisation, police spokesman Christos Andreou confirmed on Thursday. Later, a court ordered the suspects remanded in police custody for six days for […]
(AP) Europe’s top human rights court ruled on Tuesday that Cyprus violated the right of two Syrian nationals to seek asylum in the island nation after keeping them, and more than two dozen other people, aboard a boat at sea for two […]
(Kathimerini) Greek diplomatic sources on Wednesday reacted to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks about the Muslim minority in Thrace, emphasizing that minority members enjoy equality before the law and that their rights are fully respected. “Issues concerning the rule of law […]
(Kathimerini) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated on Wednesday that the only solution to the decades-long dispute over Cyprus is to establish two separate states on the island. “We can never forget the burned villages, the murdered children and the tragedies of […]
(AP) The president of Cyprus said Tuesday that he won’t “open another route” for irregular migration by letting through more than two dozen asylum-seekers now stranded in a U.N.-controlled buffer zone that bisects the war-divided island nation. President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters […]
(AP) The governments of eight European Union member states said Friday the situation in Syria should be re-evaluated to allow for the voluntary return of Syrian refugees back to their homeland. In a joint statement, officials from Austria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, […]
(AP) The United Nations’ refugee agency said Friday that Cypriot efforts at sea to stop numerous Syrian refugee-laden boats departing Lebanon from reaching the European Union-member island nation mustn’t contravene international human rights laws or put passengers at risk. Cypriot authorities have […]
(Reuters) A Cypriot law enforcement vessel was off the coast of Lebanon on Wednesday amid reports that Cyprus is stepping up efforts to prevent Syrian refugees reaching the island on small boats. An advocacy group reported that up to five boatloads of […]
(AP) Cyprus said Saturday it’s suspending processing all asylum applications by Syrian nationals because large numbers of refugees from the war-torn country continue to reach the island nation by boat, primarily from Lebanon. In a written statement, the Cypriot government said the […]
(AP) The Lebanese caretaker prime minister and the Cypriot president are calling on the European Union to provide financial support to help cash-strapped Lebanon stop migrants from reaching European shores. President Nikos Christodoulides’ visit to Beirut Monday, alongside his country’s interior and […]
(Politico) Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides will head to Lebanon on Monday for talks on migration after the Mediterranean island declared a crisis on refugee flows. “We are indeed in a crisis, but I want to assure you that we will do everything […]
(Politico) Rising numbers of migrants arriving have left Cyprus in “a state of serious crisis,” the country’s President Nikos Christodoulides said Wednesday as he called for the EU to step in. More than 2,000 people arrived in Cyprus by sea in the […]
(AP) The president of Cyprus said on Tuesday that he has personally asked the head of the European Union’s executive arm to intercede with Lebanese authorities to stop boatloads of Syrian refugees from heading to the east Mediterranean island nation. President Nikos […]
(AP) A court in Cyprus on Saturday ordered two men to remain in police custody for six days on suspicion of people smuggling. The men were identified as the drivers of two boats that brought 146 Syrian refugees and one Lebanese migrant […]
(AP) Cyprus is the first European Union member country to repatriate more migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected than have arrived in a single year, the east Mediterranean island nation’s interior minister said Thursday. Constantinos Ioannou told the state broadcaster that […]
(AP) Cyprus has disrupted an alleged Iranian plot to target Israeli businessmen with the arrest of two Iranian asylum-seekers who were in contact with another Iranian associated with the Revolutionary Guard, a Cypriot official said Tuesday. The official told the Associated Press […]
(Reuters) As record numbers of Syrian refugees reach the shores of Cyprus, the Nicosia government wants the European Union to consider declaring parts of their war-torn homeland safe to repatriate them to, the Cypriot interior minister said. “Starting a discussion to re-evaluate […]
(Kathimerini) The Cypriot police arrested two Iranians last month, alleging their connection to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards of Iran (IRGC), targeting Jewish citizens in Cyprus. The individuals are currently in custody, with a deportation warrant. This marks the third incident in the […]
(Kathimerini) Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in his speech at the Turkish National Assembly on Monday spoke of “Turkish minorities” in western Thrace and in the Dodecanese being a priority to the Turkish government. “The condition of the Turkish minority of western […]
(AFP) Cyprus has received an influx of 458 Syrian migrants from Lebanon in one week and is bracing for more as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to spread, officials said on Sunday. Authorities said 194 Syrians arrived late on Saturday aboard four boats […]
(AP) Police in Cyprus said Tuesday they had arrested 10 Syrian men in an operation that has dismantled the third people smuggling ring bringing migrants to the east Mediterranean island nation in as many months. The arrests come as Cypriot authorities say […]
(AP) Police in Cyprus said Saturday they arrested four Syrians on suspicion of setting off a small explosive device that caused no damage not far from [the] Israeli Embassy in the capital Nicosia. Police said the four, ranging in ages between 17 […]
(AP) Cyprus has formally called on the European Union to re-evaluate which areas of Syria can be declared safe and free from armed conflict so that Syrian migrants can eventually be repatriated there, Cypriot authorities said Friday. Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou was […]
(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 […]
(AFP) Hours before the masked men came, brandishing Cypriot flags and Molotov cocktails, hushed whispers of the imminent rampage travelled down the Limassol seafront strip home to many migrant-owned businesses. Egyptian restaurant owners rushed to bring their water pipes indoors, and a […]
(AP) Cyprus police arrested 13 people after a mob smashed storefronts and set numerous trash bins on fire during an anti-immigration march in the coastal resort city of Limassol, authorities said Saturday. Police said five people reported that they had been assaulted […]
(AP) Police in Cyprus say they have arrested 21 people and used tear gas and a water cannon after a group of Greek Cypriots wearing hoods and brandishing bats tried to attack protesting Syrians in a small village that has been a […]
(AP) Cyprus said Wednesday it dismantled a criminal human smuggling ring responsible for bringing boatloads of Syrian migrants from Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. The eastern Mediterranean island nation has seen almost daily migrant boat arrivals in recent days. Cypriot police said three […]
(AP) The United Nations refugee agency said Friday it was “extremely concerned” over the return of more than 100 Syrian nationals from Cyprus to Lebanon without being screened to determine whether they need legal protection and who may be deported back to […]
(AP) Cyprus police investigations support claims by Israel’s Mossad spy service that an Iranian-backed hit squad planned to kill Israelis and other Jews in the east Mediterranean island nation, an official said Friday. The security official told the Associated Press that Cypriot […]
(Philenews) Nicosia on Tuesday continued staying mum over the thwarting of an alleged Iranian attack against Israeli targets in Cyprus even though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised it. At the same time, Nicosia is reportedly annoyed with Iran, which has […]
(Times of Israel) The targets in an Iranian-planned attack in Cyprus included an Israeli real estate businessman and a Chabad House, as well as hotels and entertainment venues frequented by Israeli tourists, Channel 12 reported Monday. The report named the alleged targets, […]
(Philenews) A terrorist attack on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, which was believed to have been aimed at killing citizens of Jewish origin, has been prevented. The perpetrators were reportedly the intelligence services, apparently linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards […]
(Kathimerini) One of the two Pakistani nationals arrested for planning to bomb a Jewish restaurant in central Athens, which doubled as a cultural and religious center, has already admitted his part in the plan, Kathimerini understands. The two will face an examining […]
(AP) Less than a week after a deadly migrant shipwreck off Italy, five European Union countries on the Mediterranean Sea pushed back Saturday against their northern neighbors for not accepting asylum-seekers under a voluntary relocation initiative. The ministers responsible for migration policy […]
(AP) A Cyprus court on Saturday ordered the detention for six days of a Syrian man suspected of illegally bringing 21 Syrian migrants to the east Mediterranean island nation aboard a boat. Police said the suspect was arrested after the migrants identified […]
(Philenews) Limassol District Court last week adjudicated an unprecedented case of assault against a 14-year-old Muslim girl who had refused to wear her religious headscarf to school, Philenews reported on Wednesday. The defendants were the teenager’s 41-year-old father and 31-year-old stepmother who […]
(AP) A Muslim religious leader’s instruction to women to dutifully accept a husband’s “invitation to bed” to procreate has sparked outrage among many Turkish Cypriots, who saw the remarks as an imported encroachment of fundamentalist Islam on their secular community. “We don’t […]
(AFP) Cyprus on Monday transferred 48 asylum seekers to Germany under a voluntary pilot scheme that will eventually see 500 relocated to help cope with a surge in migrants, authorities said. The Cypriot interior ministry said the 48 applicants for international protection […]
(AP) Ethnically divided Cyprus ranks first among European Union member nations in the number of migrants it repatriates relative to its population of just over a million people, the country’s interior minister said Thursday. Nearly 7,000 migrants were sent back to their […]
(AP) Four Mediterranean European Union nations have issued a joint statement on a dispute over a deal for Europe to jointly help asylum-seekers. In their statement Saturday, Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus repeated their positions that they “cannot subscribe to the notion […]
(AP) Fighting broke out Friday between two groups at a migrant camp in Cyprus, a melee that left two people injured, set 20 tents ablaze and forced scores of families to flee the facility, officials said. Riot police had to use tear […]
(AP) Several Mediterranean nations said Saturday the European Union’s border agency Frontex needs to work inside third countries to stop smugglers from endangering the lives of migrants by sending them off to Europe on risky boat trips. Top officials from Spain, Greece, […]
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