Cyprus has asked the European Commission to help relocate 5,000 asylum seekers to other EU countries as the island nation struggles to accommodate an influx of migrants.

In a letter sent on Monday to Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and other EU members, Cyprus’ Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides described the gravity of the migration situation on the island and said that a lack of cooperation from nearby Turkey has made finding a solution more difficult.

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In the letter, seen by POLITICO, Petrides also urges “all Member States to submit their pledges for relocating 5,000 persons from Cyprus.”

The small nation with a population of less than 1 million people has seen a dramatic rise in the number of asylum seekers and migrants arriving over the last two years, and now has the EU’s highest number of first-time asylum applications per capita. Cyprus did not participate in a previous EU scheme to redistribute refugees arriving on the shores of Italy and Greece to other EU countries, but its request shows that the bloc’s struggle to handle the migration crisis that peaked in 2015 is far from over.

The unusual political status of the divided island, where the north has been occupied by Turkey since 1974, has also made it harder for Cyprus to deal with the growing influx.

“Cyprus is in urgent need of immediate assistance, given the unprecedented high number of arrivals,” Petrides wrote.

Within the first six months of this year, Petrides said there’s been a 130 percent increase in arrivals to the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, despite the country’s efforts to protect its EU border and curtail migration.

The greatest percentage of arrivals come to the Republic of Cyprus from Turkey or via the occupied area in the north — some 8,500 people between 2015-2019, according to the letter. This has made it “impossible to implement any measures targeted to reducing the migratory influx,” Petrides wrote.

While Turkey struck a deal with the EU in 2016 to stop asylum seekers from reaching its borders, Ankara doesn’t enforce the deal when it comes to Cyprus. That gives refugees an entry point into the EU.

Petrides claimed that Turkey, where asylum seekers from many countries enjoy visa-free travel, “systematically refuses to cooperate with the competent authorities of the Republic.”

It’s still unclear how other EU countries will respond to Cyprus’ call. A Cypriot official said that because the letter was sent just one day ago, “we have no indication yet on the countries that will take part.”

A Commission spokesperson said the EU executive had not yet received the letter as of Tuesday, but pledged to “assess the content of the letter as soon as we receive it.”

The spokesperson added that Brussels is “following the situation in Cyprus very closely.”

“We have already significantly stepped up support … both financially and operationally.”