Cyprus' interior minister Constantinos Ioannou announced that more than 11,000 migrants had been sent home this year — more than double the number in 2022. About two-thirds of those repatriations were reported as voluntary returns.

Ioannou said the government's tough stance on migration had paid off, making the island nation a "less attractive economic destination" for migrants.

Official numbers show that in the last nine months, overall migration to Cyprus declined compared to last year. The number of asylum applications this year reached 10,589 -- compared to 21,565 for all of 2022.

In addition to managing to lower its net migration numbers, Cyprus now also ranks fourth in absolute repatriation numbers across the EU.

Read more: Cyprus coast guard rescues 170 migrants

Disagreement with EU

Ioannou added, however, that he wasn't impressed with the EU migration deal reached earlier this week. He stressed that the pact fell short of meeting Cyprus' demand for the compulsory relocation of migrants from frontline states feeling the most strain from increased arrival numbers to other members of the 27-state bloc.

Ioannou reiterated that Cyprus was also still trying to convince other EU members to revise the status of certain parts of Syria and make them safe zones; he argues that this way, at least some Syrian nationals could be repatriated to parts of their home country where they would not stand in harm's way.

Nearly all seaborne arrivals in Cyprus in 2023 came from Syria.