As it is known, our State declares, on every occasion, that it positively approaches to cooperate with the Greek Cypriot side on Island-wide matters. We would like to remind that we have made a proposal to establish a cooperation with the Greek Cypriot side regarding the issue of irregular migration, an international phenomenon affecting the island of Cyprus, which we are a co-owner of, and that this proposal is still on the table. However, the Greek Cypriot side, on the one hand, rejects all the cooperation proposals while, on the other hand, makes unfounded claims against the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Motherland Turkey.
The latest example of these baseless allegations is the speech of the Greek Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris during the informal meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers held in France. The accusations against our country and the Republic of Turkey by the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus and Greece, which have habitualized to exploit their EU membership, aim to cover up their inhumane practices towards immigrants, which have even led to deaths, and are unacceptable. It has also been widely covered by the international media that the Greek Coast Guard continued its pushbacks of immigrants at sea, who had to flee their home countries and that they were rescued many times by the Turkish Coast Guard. Similarly, the United Nations Secretary General’s UNFICYP report of January 2022 refers to the Greek Cypriot side’s pushbacks which even led the missing of an immigrant at sea.
We reemphasize that we are, as always, constructive and open to dialogue and would like to remind, once again, of our cooperation proposal on irregular migration.