US Congressman Eliot Engel, of the Democratic Party, has called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to encourage Turkey to cooperate in the search for the missing persons in Cyprus as well as the reunification talks currently underway.
In a letter on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus` northern third, he takes the opportunity to “raise” one of the continuing sore points since that event, the almost 2000 people still missing since then.
He reminds Kerry that in 1974, Turkish military forces invaded northern Cyprus and declared a “Turkish republic of northern Cyprus” which to date, is not recognised by the rest of the international community. As a result of the invasion, he adds, more than 1500 Greek Cypriots went missing during the conflict, approximately 170,000 were displaced and many human rights violations were committed.
Still, he points out, decades later, Turkey has continued to occupy almost 40% of the island and the relatives of the missing persons have still received little to no information about their loved ones.
Engel refers to the Committee on Missing Persons, noting it is looking into the unsolved missing persons cases of more than 1400 Greek Cypriots and 400 Turkish Cypriots, adding that there are also five American citizens counted among the missing, while the body of one of the missing, Andreas Kassapis, was found and successfully returned to his family in 1998.
In 1994, Engel notes, Congress passed HR 2826, an act which proposed increased US government involvement in the search for missing Americans and Cypriots in Cyprus. “However, we need to ensure that the measures we enacted are being properly implemented today. In order to conduct these investigations, the CMP must be able to enter areas currently restricted by Turkey, including military sites in the north of Cyprus,” he stresses.
“The US must also, at this important time of remembrance, encourage Turkey to cooperate in the search for missing persons as well as in the upcoming Cyprus reunification negotiations”, Engel concludes.
