Cyprus received more than 3,856 applications from asylum seekers in the months of October-November 2021, Interior Minister Nicos Nouris has said.

He added that the percentage of asylum seekers and eligible persons for international protection correspond to 4.4 per cent of the population of Cyprus and that for the fifth consecutive year Cyprus is the EU Member state with the highest number of applicants for international protection in proportion to its population.

Addressing on Friday the 15th conference of the free labour centre of SEK trade union in Nicosia, Nouris said that the situation was becoming worse by the day and this was the main reason the president had put forward the issue to the Head of the EU Commission seeking assistance.

He said that we are at a marginal point and for the year 2021 up to now figures show that 12,200 applications were submitted and 85 per cent were from persons who came illegally to the Republic across the Green Line. He spoke once again of “the instrumentalisation” of the migration crisis by Turkey.

Nouris said that authorities urgently focus on examining all those applications who clearly are unfounded and since January 1st 2021 some 12,518 applications were rejected.

He added that Cyprus and the rest of Europe were faced with serious issues, saying that the efforts focus on the monitoring of the Green Line and the signing of agreements with third countries which are safe in order to promote returns.