President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades has appealed to anyone who has information with regard to missing persons in Cyprus to come forward and share it with the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP).
Speaking on Sunday evening at an event organized by the Cyprus Committee of Relatives of Missing Persons and Undeclared Prisoners of 1974, at the Panorama of Missing Persons, in the village of Kornos, Anastasiades noted that this appeal was made both by him and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Mustafa Akinci.
“We are exerting pressure in all directions for Turkey to finally be persuaded to cooperate and allow search operations in areas which it has turned into closed military zones”, the President said, adding that he raised the issue with EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, recalling the relevant resolution of the European Parliament of last February and the decision by the European Court of Human Rights.
Efforts have also been directed towards the five UN Security Council Permanent Members, he noted.
The President underlined that “as long as the Cyprus problem remains unresolved and as long as there are military occupation forces that describe some of our occupied areas as “military zones,” finding our missing persons or at least investigating the fate of our missing persons will unfortunately be impossible.”
The Cypriot President assured that he will not stop, together with the rest of the political leadership, to pursue a solution to the Cyprus problem that will abolish armies and military zones, and which will provide every Cypriot citizen with the right to reside freely where he or she wishes, with human rights safeguarded. The missing persons issue, he said, is one of the integral elements of the solution.
Referring to statements on Sunday by Akinci that in 1974 there was a war and Greek Cypriots have suffered the most, Anastasiades said he was particularly pleased with the remarks, adding that Akinci`s statement shows “gallantry”.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. UN-led talks, aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof, resumed on May 15, this year.
The list of missing persons includes 1,508 Greek Cypriots, forty three of whom went missing between `63-`64 when intercommunal violence broke out in Cyprus. The list also includes 493 Turkish Cypriots, 229 of whom are thought to have been lost during the period 1963-1967.
Two hundred sixty four Turkish Cypriots went missing during the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island and there have been some reports that 126 of them were lost in the areas of Aloa-Maratha-Sandalari.
So far 444 identifications of Greek Cypriots have been carried out and 138 of Turkish Cypriots. Approximately 200 cases are in the stage of anthropological or genetic analysis, 100 Greek Cypriot missing cannot be identified and the remains of 800 missing persons are still to be located.