The session of the 100 member Advisory Board of the Pancyprian Organization of Relatives of Undeclared Prisoners and Missing Persons, adopted Wednesday a resolution, calling on President Anastasiades Nicos Anastasiades to renew and intensify the efforts to every direction for solving the problem of missing persons without further delay.
The resolution also urges the President to make it clear in the ongoing negotiations on Cyprus problem, that solving the issue of missing persons, is a prerequisite for the establishment of an environment of trust between the two communities and the success of efforts to solve the Cyprus problem.
It also invites him to further to reaffirm the consistent declared position of the Cyprus Government that the issue of missing persons is of utmost importance and priority and that there can be no solution to the Cyprus problem without the solution of the humanitarian issue of missing persons.
The resolution adopted, also calls on President Anastasiades to make every effort to accelerate the work of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) with complete and convincing evidence.
In his address, the President of the Committee of Relatives of Missing Persons from 1963 – 1964, Harris Simeonides said that the relatives of the missing, do not see how the solution of Cyprus will contribute to the termination of their drama.
In his speech, the representative of the Organization of Relatives of Missing Cypriots in UK Yiannakis Kontos said that the organizations of relatives of the Cyprus tragedy should not even exist, because that humanitarian problem should not even existed after so many years.
A written messaged on behalf of the Board of the Hellenic Committee of Parents and Relatives of Undeclared Prisoners and Missing, referred to a “moderate decision” during the recent session of the Ministers and Permanent Representatives of the Council of Europe on the issue of the missing persons of Cyprus.
In his speech, the President of the Pancyprian Organization of Relatives of Undeclared Prisoners and Missing Persons Nicos Sergides said that after ten years CMP identified the remains of 764 missing persons, 580 Greek Cypriots and 184 Turkish Cypriots, a result which is disproportionately low in comparison with the years that have passed.
He also expressed his worry on the fact that everything suggests that the expected results in the future will be poorer. As he said, according to the statements of the CMP members, success in exhumations in recent years barely reaches 11% and this is due to the fact that those who know the information are no longer in life or do not speak.
In her speech, President of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, Enclave and Missing Skevi Koukouma said that the Commission effectively monitors the progress of work of CMP and also develops its own initiatives.
She also said that recently she had the opportunity to meet with Chair of the Committe of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament Claude Moraes with whom he discussed the issue.
In his speech Greek Cypriot Member of CMP Nestoras Nestoros said that at the present stage CMP analyzes anthropologically or genetically 148 cases of Greek Cypriot and 35 cases of Turkish Cypriot missing persons. He added that in the storage area of the anthropological laboratory there are remains corresponding to a minimum number of persons 41 Greek Cypriots and 100 Turkish Cypriots.
In his speech, the Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Issues Photis Photiou, referred to the action taken regarding the cases of the Greek missing persons, saying that efforts are intensified in order to return more remains that have been given to the families in Greece during the period 1979-1981 for scientific tests. As a result of the efforts, he noted, five remains held by families were returned to Cyprus and now eight more are expected in order to complete this attempt.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. UN brokered talks resumed in May 2015 aiming to reunify the island under a federal roof.
The two leaders, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci decided on December 1 that they will meet in Geneva on January 9 2017. On January 11 they will present their respective maps relating to the territory chapter and from January 12 onwards a Conference on Cyprus will be convened with the added participation of the guarantor powers, while other relevant parties shall be invited as needed.
