Bernard Kaznov the French Interior Minister said on Thursday, that France granted 3450 visa to Syrian refugees, including about 500 in 2014, and that during a meeting in Paris with Antonio Guterres ,the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Refugees.

According to people close to the French Minister of the Interior, Kaznov announced to Guterres that 1800 visa was granted from July 2014 to the oppressed minorities in Iraq, including Christians.

In July 2014, the French government announced that it is ready to receive Iraqi Christians, targeted by “jihadists”, and the French Interior Ministry issued a statement saying that “by looking to the current situation of Syria and Libya” Kaznov and Guterres “they reached to the necessity of activating solidarity mechanisms to assist and protect refugees in Europe”

The statement added “On the other hand, it is necessary to distribute the responsibility to assist the refugees between the EU countries, and especially, for the country’s first entry, in the context of repositioning programs and the right of humanitarian access.”

French President, Francois Hollande announced at the conclusion of an exceptional European summit in about illegal immigration in the Mediterranean in April 23, that his country would bear its part of responsibility by hosting the “500 to 700” of Syrian refugees.

In 2014, the EU received 625 thousand visa application (to increase 44 percent from 2013), France received 45 thousand applications in 2014 (down 2.2 per cent from 2013), According to the French Interior.