Cyprus Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou has warned that the Committee on Missing Persons is facing closure due to a lack of new evidence while the fate of many Cypriot missing remains unknown.
He called on Turkey to finally cooperate in order to put an end to the ordeal of relatives still left in the dark decades on.
Photiou was addressing an event marking the Cypriot Missing Persons Day, in London.
Despite locating a significant number of remains of people included in the initial list of missing persons and identifying them by way of DNA testing, leads are beginning to dry up
“We find ourselves faced with the immediate danger of the work of the Committee ending, as the success ratio of exhumations and location of remains has dropped abruptly,” said Photiou.
He added, “while most of our compatriots included in the initial tragic missing persons list are still missing.”
Photiou said that work in Nicosia at the anthropological lab for the identification of remains has been significantly reduced. “There are almost no more remains to investigate and identify.”
CMP data for 2018 shows the remains or partial remains of about 11 people were located while in 2017 the remains of 50 people were found. There are still 850 people missing some 44 years after their disappearance.
Most Greek Cypriot missing were listed after the 1974 Turkish invasion while the majority of Turkish Cypriot date back to inter-communal conflict in 1964.
“It is imperative that Turkey finally shows in practice that it has the necessary political and humanitarian will to end the pain and suffering of relatives of Greek Cypriot, Greek and Turkish Cypriot missing,” said Photiou.
So far, the remains of 896 missing persons were identified from both communities and handed over to the families for a proper funeral.
A total of 1,230 suspect multiple grave sites were excavated by the CMP while remains were found in only 336 locations.
CMP has appealed to anyone who might have information on missing persons to contact the following numbers: +357 22 400142 or 22 400181
A Committee on Missing Persons was established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning the remains of missing persons to their relatives.
The CMP is a tripartite intercommunal investigatory committee comprising a representative of the Greek Cypriot community, a representative of the Turkish Cypriot community, and a Third Member nominated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and appointed by the UN Secretary General.
