Barroso urges Turkey to help investigate fate of missing in Cyprus

President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has called on Turkey to conduct an effective investigation into the fate of missing persons in Cyprus.

In a reply letter to the member of the European Parliament Marina Yannakoudakis on the issue, Barroso said the Commission is aware of the work the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) in Cyprus is doing.

He pointed out that according to a relevant decision of the European Court of Human Rights, Turkey must secure the conditions that would allow for an effective investigation regarding the circumstances under which Greek Cypriot missing persons have disappeared.

Barroso said that the European Commission will continue to support financially the CMP.

Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion. Hundreds of Greek Cypriots were listed as missing during the summer of 1974, many of whom women and children but most of them combatants. Some were last seen alive in the hands of the Turkish military. Turkish Cypriots have been missing since the early 1960s when intercommunal fighting broke out and also during the summer of 1974.

The CMP, a tripartite committee made up of a Greek Cypriot, a Turkish Cypriot and a UN appointed representative, has been working on both sides of the divide, to locate remains of missing persons, which once identified, it returns to the families concerned.