Archbishop of Cyprus will raise funds for missing identification

Archbishop Chrysostomos II has made a public plea to anyone who has further information on the whereabouts of graves or remains of Greek and Turkish Cypriots missing from the intercommunal troubles of the 1960s and the 1974 Turkish invasion to come forward.

The primate of the autonomous Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, who has embarked on a programme of reforms and restructuring the church and its fortunes ever since he ascended to the throne earlier this year, also pledged financial support to facilitate the work of the Committee for Missing Persons.

From the 1619 Greek Cypriots initially listed as missing since 1974, that number has been reduced to around 1,400 following the identification of unmarked graves in the government-controlled areas and the return of a number of remains, undertaken by international funded NGOs and forensic experts, such as the Physicians for Human Rights.

A number of remains were handed to their relatives and buried last week.

A further 500 Turkish Cypriots remain missing from December 1963 when the two communities were first divided and the United Nations sent in a brigade of peace keepers.

“Lately we have been hearing about the DNA identification of the remains of a small number of missing persons among those appearing on the long list of our missing, found in mass graves,” said the Archbishop.

“On the one hand, finding the remains and identifying them puts an end to the agony and unbearable suffering of waiting in vain on the part of their relatives. They now know about the fate of their loved ones and can hold a proper funeral for them as well as memorial services. On the other hand, though, many of our brothers are still undergoing the same and perhaps now even greater suffering of waiting for the fate of their own loved ones to be ascertained.”

As the head of the Church of Cyprus he has appealed to Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots alike, urging “all those who have convincing and irrefutable evidence and information, or, more importantly, those who were eye witness to some incident, to approach the Committee and give their testimony.”

He said that he will ask for a meeting with the third Member of the Committee on Missing Persons, who is appointed by the United Nations Secretary General, to discuss all the aspects of the work and convey the message that the Church of Cyprus can be of assistance, not excluding the provision of economic support, to the work of the Committee.

“I will soon also pay a visit to the scientific laboratories of the Committee where the identification of remains is taking place, as well as to the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, to discuss with officials there the way with which the Church can contribute in accelerating the DNA identification procedure.”

Chrysostomos II also appealed to the Moslem leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, saying that he felt certain that “the Mufti shares the same feelings and sensitivities. That is why I feel certain that, approaching the issue of the missing as a purely humanitarian one, he will also make the same appeal to our Turkish Cypriot compatriots to help resolve this great problem the soonest possible.”