Since the beginning of the year, Cyprus has repatriated more than 3,000 migrants

During the first four months of 2024, Cyprus repatriated over 3,000 migrants. This is a thousand more returns than the entire previous year.

Minister of Internal Affairs Constantinos Ioannou revealed statistics on the return of illegal migrants in a statement on the X platform.

According to the minister, in 2024, Cyprus completed the repatriation of 3,337 migrants. For comparison, in all of 2023, this figure was 2,348 people.

Meanwhile, according to the European Union Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (Frontex), the number of arrivals via the Eastern Mediterranean route, which directly affects Cyprus, increased by 109 percent.

“In the first quarter, the Eastern Mediterranean route replaced the West African route as the most active path to the EU for illegal migrants, with the number of detections more than doubling to just over 13,700,” Frontex said in a statement.

It is noted that Syrians, Afghans, and Egyptians mainly arrive via the Eastern Mediterranean route.

The statement also says that sea crossings remain extremely dangerous for people undertaking illegal migration.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 476 people have gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea this year. The vast majority of them followed the dangerous route in the Central Mediterranean.

It is worth reminding that Cyprus is in a “crisis state” due to the increasing number of migrants arriving on the island. The country's President, Nikos Christodoulides, has already appealed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to intervene in the situation.

Since the beginning of April, over 1,000 people have arrived from Lebanon. Over the first three months of this year, more than 2,000 arrivals by sea have been registered. In the last two days, two more boats with 110 Syrians aboard have arrived in Cyprus.

It was previously reported that Cypriot authorities have suspended the process of considering asylum applications from Syrians.