NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus is ramping up for a surge in illegal immigration after Turkey's president made good on a threat to stop intercepting people trying to reach Europe, Cypriot officials said Tuesday.

Cyprus is a mere 51 miles (83 kilometers) away from Turkey at its nearest point. The island nation already is a leader within the European Union in the number of asylum-seekers relative to its population. Cypriot authorities said they've seen a noticeable spike in arriving migrants in the last few days.

“Certainly, this concerns us, and we want to see what measures we can take in order to guard against any change in the country’s demographic character but without discounting human suffering,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said.

Anastasiades pointed to the “encouragement” he accused Turkey of giving to thousands of people to cross into Greece and Bulgaria and suggested that Ankara has been doing the same relative to Cyprus.

Under a 2016 agreement with the European Union, Turkey tried to keep migrants and refugees from setting off for European. The deal called for the EU to provide in return billions of euros in funding for the care of Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Government officials in ethnically divided Cyprus have accused Turkey for months of deliberately channeling migrants from the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north to the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence. Although Cyprus is a European Union member, only the south enjoys full membership benefits.

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said 223 migrants reached the island's south in the last 72 hours, 153 of them arriving Tuesday. The numbers suggest an increase since south Cyprus has seen around 850 migrants in total arrive since the start of the year.

Another boat ferrying several dozen migrants also reached Cypriot shores later Tuesday.

Nouris said speeding up the asylum application process and getting the European Union to take charge of negotiations with third countries are key steps to make room for refugees and children fleeing conflict by deporting migrants fleeing poverty whose asylum claims are rejected.

“The number of economic migrants is no longer manageable simply because our limits have been surpassed,” Nouris said, adding that no one would be sent back to a country where their life would be in danger.