The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) has announced the launch of its website (www.cmp-cyprus.org).
A press release issued by the Committee said the purpose of this website is to facilitate access to information concerning the CMP and its Project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in Cyprus.
“It is hoped the site will provide useful background information for the relatives of missing individuals as well as for the media and the donor community,†the press release added.
In order to reflect the tripartite character of the CMP, the website has been set up in three languages – English, Greek and Turkish. The translation of all the documents into Greek and Turkish will be completed shortly.
The CMP expressed its gratitude to the European Commission for funding the creation of the website. The EC is the main contributor to the CMP project with a donation of EUR 1,5 million to date, part of the Council Regulation (EC) Nb.389/2006 establishing an instrument of financial support for encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community and amending Council Regulation (EC) Nb.2667/2000 on the European Agency for Reconstruction, with the agreement of the Turkish Cypriot community.
A press release issued by the European Commission said that for the project, a good communication strategy is essential and that the efforts of the CMP focus on ensuring that all the concerned parties are fully informed on the project’s activities.
According to the press release the European Commission has invited potential donors (mainly Ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions in Cyprus) for the launching today of the CMP website.
The Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) was established in 1981 by agreement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, under the auspices of the United Nations and with the participation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The CMP which is composed by three members, a Greek Cypriot Member, a Turkish Cypriot Member and a Third Member has a purely humanitarian mandate, i.e. to establish the fate of those persons declared missing by both communities as a consequence of the tragic events of 1963-64 and 1974.
After a period of limited activities, the CMP resumed its activities in August 2004. The aim is to investigate the fate of some 2,000 missing persons in both communities. The project includes four phases: An archeological phase (Phase I), related to the exhumation of the remains of missing persons, an anthropological phase (Phase II) related to the analyses of the recovered remains in the anthropological laboratories, a genetic phase (Phase III) related to the comparisons of blood samples collected from the victims’ families with samples from the remains in order to identify them and
the return of the remains phase (Phase IV) within the framework of a reconciliation programme.
