The effort of the Republic of Cyprus continues in particularly difficult and dangerous conditions, to provide facilities to Cypriot citizens, to move them first to neighboring conflict countries, so that they are in a safer environment and to be able to bring them back to Cyprus safely, Foreign Minister said on Wednesday.
The minister has given detailed information to the media, after the ministerial, on the return efforts and the assistance of foreign citizens’ removal operations through the “Estia” plan.
He said that in the last few hours there has been a coordinated effort with the diplomatic missions to Israel and Iran, as well as with the Crisis Management Team to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and yesterday was transferred 17 Cypriots from Israel and 5 from Iran to safer destinations, with the aim of repatriating some of them.
“Their arrival in Cyprus you realize that it is now a matter of finding the necessary positions on flights that are commercial from neighboring countries from which this transfer can exist,” he said.
Mr Kobos specifically said that 10 people crossed Egypt from Israel, were transported by Greek Air Force aircraft to Elefsina and arrangements are made to return to Cyprus through Athens.
Another three people crossed the Jordanian by road and returned by a flight from the Slovak Air Force, which arrived in Larnaca as part of the Estia Plan as Slovakia removed its own citizens and citizens of other countries through Cyprus.
“They included our above -mentioned compatriots and I had contact with my Slovakian bond and discussed the situation, thanked for the facilities we gave, we also thanked the opportunity that our fellow citizens were to repatriate,” he said.
The Foreign Minister said that another 4 people – 2 patients and 2 of their companions – returned from Israel with a flying ambulance and there is another number of Cypriot citizens who are in Israel and expressed a desire for repatriation.
“This number was up to 53 of our fellow citizens in total. But the number, you realize, changes and has been reduced in the last few hours, it was shortly informed that 19 of them eventually decided that they would wait to see the situation evolved and then their desire would be renewed or not.”
As for Israel, he stressed, there are a number of actions that are ongoing, so that we can try to bring as many of our compatriots as it is safely.
Concerning 5 Cypriot citizens in Iran, the minister said that there was an attempt yesterday, starting very early in the morning with a motorway and transported kilometers from Tehran.
The five arrived late last night in Armenia and is now on the way to Gerevan and arrangements have been made to return to Cyprus by flight, which will be more likely to take place tomorrow, according to the Foreign Minister.
He said there are 2 Cypriot citizens in Iran, who have moved to a safer area, to the Caspian and another person who had an interest in repatriation yesterday, so he could not be included in the motorway he had already left.
He said about the “outbreak” and foreign nationals that there are no new demands at the moment and that yesterday’s contacts and a meeting with representatives of the diplomatic missions here were made yesterday.
“At this stage we do not have new demands beyond the Slovak, which has also been implemented by the ongoing Portuguese. This may of course change. We have our preparation and we have informed the diplomatic missions here. But you realize that if there is an airspace closure in one of them.
Answering a question about Iran, he said there was a travel directive but the Foreign Minister does not deal with why Cypriot citizens were found in Iran, but “we are trying to do our job, to assist them in order to return to security”.
For US transfers, he said they are falling into the planning of Americans if they need to have evacuations from the region, which is an urgent nature.
It is, he said, for a part of a large country design and does not have any further meaning or message or anything else.
Informal Board of Foreign Ministry
For yesterday’s informal Council of the Foreign Ministry of the EU, the EU said that the central message that the European Union wants to shape and pass is that there is a necessity for immediate decline.
“It is absolutely essential for the European Union itself to work in a way that it can create dialogue and diplomacy conditions, because at the moment it does not exist to the extent that it may have been, this possibility is one of the conclusions that come from yesterday. Unfortunately it seems that there is a scale.”
Regarding the issue with the spread of false news, the Foreign Minister said that he was put into the Council yesterday, as there is anxiety and a climate we have seen in other areas, in other conflict, as he said.
“The messages, clearly or anything else, in relation to our non -involvement – business nature – have repeatedly been said and we will not stop conveying exactly that position,” he said.
Mr Kobos said that some instigators of these false news is not going to focus or hear the argument, but pointed out that the role of Cyprus is a humanitarian nature.
“We see countries aimed at us, we see countries that trust the Republic of Cyprus. We have worked in the past for Sudan requests either again Israel, Lebanon. This is our effort, in this field, and in no other circumstances we have no reason,
Source: KYPE