Foreign Press: How Erdogan uses Cyprus to send migrants to the EU

On the occasion of the visit of the Austrian Minister of European Affairs Caroline Edstadler to Nicosia, the Austrian newspaper Kurier focuses on the possible new increase of migration flows in Cyprus after the developments in Afghanistan and the role of Turkey.

"An 11 km long barbed wire runs west of the divided capital of Cyprus, Nicosia.  But along the 170km "green line" that separates the Greek south from the Turkish Cypriot north, there are less than 900 UN troops.  It is their duty to ensure that armed conflicts between the two communities do not recur, as they did almost five decades ago. 

But the capitals do not stop the immigrants moving south.  In recent years, thousands of immigrants have arrived here. "After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, there are fears of an even greater number of Afghan refugees entering from the northern part of the island."

The new dilemma of the Cypriot government according to the Austrian newspaper: "Protection of the" green line "with its own soldiers is not raised by the Nicosia government - this would mean recognition of the division of the island and therefore recognition of the Turkish Cypriot north as independent state. But this creates a "window" for immigrants, which leads directly to the EU - nowhere else is it easier. "Turkish President Erdogan has repeatedly used this situation to send migrants to Cyprus, thus putting pressure on the Cypriot government."

The Courier concludes: "Cyprus cannot repatriate migrants arriving mainly from Africa. This would mean recognizing the northern part of the island as an independent state. However, the easier it is to get to the Republic of Cyprus, the more difficult it is to get from there to mainland Europe.  And so the number of immigrants on the island is further increasing ".

Source: Kurier