The Republic of Cyprus has changed its approach to migration.
This stance is not only supported by recent decisions to suspend asylum applications from Syrian nationals but was also reinforced by yesterday’s operation in international waters.
Following coordination between relevant ministers of the Cypriot government and the heads of the National Guard and Police, a prevention plan for new migration flows from Lebanon has been implemented since Tuesday morning.
Illustrating the seriousness with which the operation is approached, while the distance between Cyprus and Lebanon is over 110 nautical miles (the distance varies depending on the starting point of a vessel), Cyprus’ vessels have reached a distance of 25-30 nautical miles from the shores of Beirut.
The operation began around 03:00 on Tuesday morning with the general support vessel of the National Guard “ALASIA” and the patrol boat “THESEUS” of the Maritime and Naval Police.
According to information from Phileleftheros, the vessels are reported to have crews of 18 and 20 members, respectively.
The “ALASIA” with its crew, as mentioned by a source to Phileleftheros, was due to be replaced within 72 hours, with continuous rotation with other vessels every three 24-hour periods.
For the patrol boat “THESEUS”, we have been informed that the corresponding time is 24 hours. That is, every 24 hours, the Maritime and Naval Police will ensure a shift change for the mission’s success.
It remains unclear whether the crews’ duty hours include travel time (the journey to open waters of Lebanon is estimated to take four hours).
The vessels, as reported by the same information, are manned by appropriate personnel, individuals trained to handle incidents at sea.
However, it is currently unclear under what exact conditions the two crews are operating.
An issue frequently raised in Eastern Mediterranean countries and particularly in the Middle East is the effectiveness of the vessels’ navigation equipment and whether it is fully functional (GPS and radar). Signal jammers are often used.
There is also no clear information on the exact preventive measures being taken.
Information brought to our attention from early yesterday afternoon reported that the two vessels were called upon to deal with boats carrying migrants and efforts were being made to handle the situations.
However, despite our efforts to confirm or refute this, there was no response from official channels providing information.
Information indicated that until late last night, joint efforts of the National Guard and the Maritime & Naval Police were underway to address the situation in international waters, specifically five boats carrying migrants destined for Cyprus.
The two vessels (“ALASIA” and “THESEUS”) were reported late into the night to be positioned between Cyprus and Lebanon (approximately 50 nautical miles from the shores of Beirut), with their crews managing the situation.
Information suggested that two more vessels of the Maritime and Naval Police were notified to rush to the scene. These were the high-speed patrol boats “EVAGORAS” and “POSEIDON”, each with a crew of 12.
Overall, authorities were reticent during yesterday’s operation. Indicative are the statements of the Police spokesperson, Christos Andreou, on the “From Day to Day” news programme on RIK.
Responding to a related question from journalist Tasos Christodoulou, he avoided mentioning anything about a coordinated operation.
“What I can tell you at this stage is that there is an effort to implement decisions taken regarding migration. Allow me not to say anything more at this stage,” was his characteristic statement.
Meanwhile, the Larnaca District Court issued detention orders of eight and seven days, respectively, against a 16-year-old and a 44-year-old, to facilitate police investigations concerning a case of aiding irregular migrants to reach the territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
The aforementioned were arrested by the Police based on testimony that they were the skippers of two vessels that arrived on Monday afternoon and evening in Cyprus, carrying a total of 110 irregular migrants.
Furthermore, Cyprus has the capability to extend the examination of asylum applications in case of a large number of arrivals, up to nine months.
This was stated by a Commission spokesperson yesterday in a written response following the announcement of a relevant decision by the Cypriot side over the weekend.
