Cyprus president says a buffer zone splitting the island won’t become another migrant route

By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS
Associated Press

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The president of Cyprus says he won’t “open another route” for irregular migration by letting through more than two dozen asylum-seekers now stranded in a U.N.-controlled buffer zone that bisects the war-divided island nation. President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters Tuesday that his government is ready to provide any and all humanitarian assistance for the 27 Afghan, Cameroonian, Sudanese and Iranian migrants if the need arises. But he said the 180-kilometer or 120-mile buffer zone “won’t become a new avenue for the passage of illegal migrants.” He held Turkey responsible for allowing the asylum-seekers to pass through its territory before traveling to Cyprus’ breakaway north either by airplane or boat.