Α total of 321 identifications of missing persons in Cyprus have been fulfilled since 2007, of which 66 concern Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriot member of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) Aristos Aristotelous said on Saturday.
Aristotelous was speaking to an extraordinary meeting of the Pancyprian Committee of Relatives of Undeclared Prisoners and Missing Persons which convened to discuss the latest developments in the issue of the missing persons, following a decision by CMP to terminate its cooperation with the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics and to conclude a contract with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). He said that in 2007 56 identifications were carried out, 53 in 2008, 83 in 2009, 71 in 2010 while 7 identifications have been carried out so far this year.
On his part, Presidential Commissioner George Iacovou expressed the conviction that the problem that arose with regard to the identification process after the termination of the cooperation between the CMP and the Institute will be resolved. He also said that the fact that the project of identifications will be carried out by a foreign lab was “a traumatic experience“ to him.