Cyprus launches genetic identification phase of missing persons

The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) has launched the genetic identification phase of its Project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of missing individuals, and hopes to be able to return the first identified remains of missing persons to their relatives by late Spring.
According to a CMP press release, a team of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot geneticists are involved in this work which is being carried out by the Laboratory of Forensic Genetics of the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) in Nicosia.
”The DNA samples of relatives of missing Turkish Cypriots have been sent to the CING, which is already in possession of the DNA samples of the relatives of missing Greek Cypriots,” it says.
The CMP adds that ”the first submission of bone samples by the CMP Anthropological Laboratory has been made to the CING in order to proceed with the extraction of DNA which, it is hoped, will lead to the identification of the individuals concerned.”
”The scientific complexity of the process is such that it is very difficult to predict exactly how much time will be required for the identification of remains. The CMP nonetheless hopes to be able to return the first identified remains of missing persons to their relatives by late Spring,” it concludes.