Tensions over the large influx of migrants are rising in the eastern Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, where authorities have been overwhelmed by the numbers.

According to the Interior Ministry, refugees and migrants now make up 6% of the population, the highest proportion in the EU.

Refugee camps on Cyprus are overcrowded and cramped, and in many places, ghettos have formed where people live in poverty.

The island has been divided since 1974, and the Republic of Cyprus has been a member of the EU since 2004, but EU law and regulations only apply to the southern part of the island.

Cyprus governments have repeatedly complained that migrants from Turkey travel legally to northern Cyprus and from there cross the green border into southern Cyprus, thus entering the EU.