Mustafa’s Journey

Before we arrived in Cyprus, we assumed that debates on the island about population movement, forced migration, and the rights of refugees would be totally dominated by ‘the Cyprus Question.’ However, upon reaching the island we were surprised to find that this wasn’t the case. We met and spoke with Mustafa, a Kurdish asylum seeker protesting in Nicosia’s central Eleftheria Square about the denial of his basic human rights. The shocking story of Mustafa’s journey from the Middle East to Nicosia tells us how Lausanne’s legacy of the tortured political geography of Cyprus adds a cruel twist to the stories of people fleeing war in Syria. There is little academic research on this in relation to Cyprus, which is again surprising given the island’s proximity to Syria. The question of how the authorities should respond to new migration movements is nonetheless an important one in the Cypriot press. In order to find out more, we interviewed journalists, asylum seekers and NGOs that work with irregular migrants. After speaking to several NGOs in Cyprus, we learned that Mustafa’s experience not an isolated incident; each NGO we spoke to had countless stories of irregular migrants who had faced similar, yet distinct struggles upon arrival in Cyprus.

The Republic of Cyprus (ROC) is part of the EU and thus a desirable goal for those fleeing war and poverty. As Cyprus is an island, they tend to rely on smugglers to reach it. This has become increasingly difficult due to the EU’s management of its borders and territorial waters, and the ROC’s building of an 11km barbed-wire fence along the existing UN-patrolled buffer zone, intended to exclude migrants who reach the island via the Turkish-military-controlled northern part.[1] We interviewed Mustafa (not his real name), who shared his experience of traveling from Turkey to Northern Cyprus and then crossing the Green Line to enter the ROC. Upon arrival in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus he received neither accommodation, food, nor money. He then made his way into the buffer zone, spending ten months in limbo, surviving off food the UN gave him. However, after all this time in Cyprus, neither side would process his application, and so he feared he would be sent to Turkey and be imprisoned if he returned to the north. So he headed south to the ROC, where he encountered a similar situation – he was not provided with welfare or accommodation, which led him to ‘take action’ and begin a hunger strike in protest at his treatment by the authorities in Cyprus.

Mustafa’s journey from the Middle East to Nicosia tells us how Lausanne’s legacy of the tortured political geography of Cyprus adds a cruel twist to the stories of people fleeing war in Syria.

We were shocked to discover that insufficiencies in governmental support had forced him into holding such a protest. There are significant systemic barriers and a lack of support for asylum seekers and refugees in Cyprus. The prolonged waiting period before asylum seekers and refugees can enter the labour market and subsequent restrictions on their employment options severely hinder their ability to integrate and support themselves financially. Despite their contributions to the health insurance system, they are excluded from its benefits, exacerbating their vulnerability. Employers are often hesitant to give work to refugees, further limiting their opportunities. Finally, both governments’ inadequate welfare support, combined with the lack of immediate assistance upon arrival, leaves asylum seekers like Mustafa in a precarious position. NGOs suggested to us that the authorities’ fixation on the ‘the Cyprus Question’ distracts from the more pressing issue of the care of refugees and asylum seekers.

Our experience in Cyprus showed us that, despite patrolling the seas and building fences, the authorities are unable to stop migrants reaching the island. Yet those who do come, like Mustafa, are often denied basic rights and opportunities. These debates mirror those elsewhere in the EU and in the UK. Although the island’s tortured political geography gives these difficult journeys a uniquely challenging twist, therefore, politics in Cyprus felt far more similar to politics in the UK than we had expected.

Felix, Joseph and Thomas were visiting Cyprus as part of a Newcastle University undergraduate-level geography module taught by Professor Nick Megoran, Dr Craig Jones, Dr Matt Benwell and Dr Ingrid Medby. To find out more about this course, please read their blogpost.

Note

[1] Laura Dubois and Adam Samson, ‘How Europe is paying other countries to police its borders,’ Financial Times, April 11, 2024; Nick Theodoulou, ‘Interior ministry says controversial fence is necessary to tackle increase migrant flow,’ Cyprus Mail, July 8, 2022.