Cyprus Wants EU Border Agency to Stop Illegal Immigrants From Turkey

Asylum seekers staying in the Pournara temporary accommodation centre protest over delays in their application process and what they described as the inhumane living conditions in the camp, in Kokkinotrimithia, some 20 kilometres outside the Cypriot capital Nicosia, on Feb. 1, 2021. Christina Assi/AFP via Getty Images

NICOSIA, Cyprus—Cyprus wants the European Union’s border agency Frontex to step in and prevent the flow of illegal immigrant arrivals from Turkey that authorities say have stretched the eastern Mediterranean island nation’s asylum system to its limits.

It’s also asking the EU to “activate all available mechanisms” to help the country manage the arrival of Syrians either directly from Syria—especially the port of Tartus—or from Lebanon or Turkey.