Migration chief rejects criticism over Syrian asylum applications
Migration and asylum services director Andreas Georgiades on Friday responded to concerns raised by the advocacy group Syrians in Cyprus over how Cypriot authorities are handling international protection applications from Syrian nationals.
“The asylum service condemns any attempt to create and perpetuate false impressions and misrepresentations,” Georgiades said.
He added that his department had previously communicated with the group, stressing that it maintains “open channels of communication with all official bodies representing the various groups of applicants and beneficiaries in Cyprus.”
“Following an investigation, it was found that the group in question consists of a single person, a Cypriot citizen”, Georgiades said, adding that said citizen was not recognized as a representative by the Syrian community.
The reference was to Ploutarhos Amara Ouali Pantelides, the group’s spokesperson, who has previously communicated with the Cyprus Mail and again contacted the paper on Thursday.
In a letter sent to Georgiades that same day, Pantelides said the group believed that the required individualised risk assessment for Syrian asylum applications was almost impossible to carry out under current procedures, citing the ongoing instability and unpredictability of the situation in Syria.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail on Thursday, Pantelides said the group had recently been informed of around 100 asylum application rejections, all concerning applicants from the Idlib region in north-western Syria.
He added that this suggested Cypriot authorities considered Idlib a safe region – a view he warned could reflect an “overly optimistic” assessment of conditions on the ground.
In his response, Georgiades reiterated his earlier statement, condemning “any attempt to create and perpetuate false impressions and misrepresentations,” and said such claims undermined the work of his department.
“The asylum service will continue to operate with respect and responsibility, and based on genuine representation, to ensure proper communication and the protection of all parties involved,” he said.
The Syrians in Cyprus group is an informal network of 297 Syrian nationals living on the island – 272 of them asylum seekers and 25 beneficiaries of protection.
According to Pantelides, it emerged through informal personal connections in 2023. After helping his former Syrian neighbours navigate local administrative systems, he said he began assisting others facing similar obstacles and decided to take a more structured approach a year later, in 2024.
Pantelides said that this year, he for the first time drafted a report to track the group’s activities, however, decided not to register as an NGO due to fears of scrutiny and the lengthy approval process, which he said could take up to two years, when, as he said, there probably wouldn’t be any Syrians left.
“There is absolutely no money involved”, he stressed, adding that despite lacking a formal status, his group could still serve as a lobby and represent people’s concerns.
The group had in the past voiced concern over the ‘voluntary repatriation plan‘ presented by the government at the end of May, expressing their concerns that it was set out with a tight timeline.
As of March 2025, approximately 1,200 Syrians in Cyprus had withdrawn their asylum applications with an additional 500 requesting the revocation of their subsidiary protection status.