More than 700 migrants have reached Cyprus this year

The government of Cyprus says that it has already received more than 700 applications for asylum so far this year. The island nation, which has seen a spike in irregular arrivals in recent years, says it is encountering a “migration crisis”, propelled by Turkey.

The Greek-administered part of the island, which is part of the EU and has a population of 1.2 million, had one of the highest numbers of asylum applications per capita in the entire EU in 2020, according to the bloc’s official statistics.

The Cypriot immigration authorities say they are overstretched and struggle to deal with the unabatated flow of migrants to the island.