Netherlands contributes to Cyprus search for war missing

The Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) in Cyprus has expressed its gratitude to the government of the Netherlands for its donation of 250,000 Euros announced on the occasion of the Queen’s Day by the Dutch Ambassador, Jan Eric van den Berg.

“This donation will help the CMP pursue its project on the exhumation, identification and return of remains of missing persons in Cyprus well into 2008,” the Committee said in an announcement.
So far, more than 250 remains have been exhumed from several sites of unmarked war graves or even mass graves of people killed during the Turkish invasion in 1974 or the intercommunal troubles for a decade before that.

It is estimated that about 1500 Greek Cypriots, many of whom women, children and elderly, are still missing since the two-month war when Turkey occupied some 38% of Cyprus, while some 500 Turkish Cypriots are reported missing from the intercommunal conflicts that started in 1963.

Grave sites are well known but members of the public on either side of the divide often refrain from pinpointing such sites for fear of intimidation.

Scientific examination of the exhumed remains is being carried out at the CMP Anthropological Laboratory in the United Nations-controlled buffer zone in Nicosia by a team of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot anthropologists under the guidance of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team.
From there, samples are sent for DNA identification at the laboratory of forensic genetics at the internationally-funded Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics.
The CMP aims to return the first identified remains of missing persons to their relatives by the early summer.

 

— Relatives hand over protests to Sec. Council members

A joint delegation comprising members of the Cypriot and Greek Committees of Relatives of Missing Persons handed over memoranda on Friday to the embassies of the U.S., Russia and France and the British High Commission in Nicosia, while similar notes were sent to the embassies of China and the EU member states, as well as the Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus.

The memorandum coincides with the 23rd Marathon of Love for the Missing Persons and says that the non solution of the 33-year humanitarian issue is a stigma on the international community.
The note said that “current developments, in the framework of the Committee of Missing Persons, are a step in the right direction, which must not be restricted to the exhumation of remains.”

What needs to be done without further delay is the commencement of substantive research, according to the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights, which unfortunately Turkey continues to ignore, the memorandum said.

 

— Cyprus parliament adopts resolution

 

House of Representatives President Demetris Christofias said on Thursday evening that the exhumation of remains of missing persons in the government controlled areas and areas under Turkish occupation was an important development in efforts to determine the fate of the missing people.
Speaking during a House plenary session, Christofias pointed out that apart from exhumations, the relatives of the missing persons must have access to relevant information in the hands of the Turkish army.
The plenary unanimously adopted a resolution calling on all parties and international organisations to assist in determining the fate of the missing persons.

Christofias said the relatives of missing persons have the right to know what has become of their loved ones.