A total of 26 excavations have been completed since the beginning of the year within the framework of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP).
According to information received by CNA from the Greek Cypriot side for the CMP, bone remains of two individuals who were located towards the end of 2025 in excavations in Turkish occupied Lefkoniko, two others in Lapithos and one in Karavas found on the last day of 2025, have been transferred to the identification laboratory.
From the 26 excavations this year remains that correspond to two individuals were found in Lapithos, where excavations will continue on June 2 after the end of the holidays. Excavations are being carried out and will also continue in Exo Metochi and Galatia. On June 2, an excavation will begin in Choulou, Paphos, on June 3 in two different excavations in Assia and Kythrea, and on June 5 in the buffer zone in Gerolakkos.
Through the CMP, 10 sites in military areas have been proposed for excavations and works were carried out in three of them, in a military area on the occupied side of Deryneia, in Petra in Famagusta and near Synhari in a mountainous area of Pella Pais. Excavations are also expected to begin after June 2, when the approval procedures from the Turkish army are completed, in Kyra of Morphou, where the 8th CMP team will work.
According to the same information, the CMP has previously carried out excavations in the area of the cemetery in Tekke Bahçesi in occupied Nicosia, but not at the site where Turkish Cypriots are thought to have been buried, where the Turkish Cypriot side is currently carrying out excavations on its own.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Since then, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown.
A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning to their relatives the remains of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Greek Cypriots, who went missing during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-1964 and in 1974.
According to statistical data published on the CMP website by February 28, 2026 out of 2002 missing persons 1,714 were exhumed and 1,065 were identified. Out of 1,510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 764 were identified and 746 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 301 were identified and 191 are still missing.
