The remains of six Greek soldiers killed during the period of 1963 and 1967 and the 1974 Turkish invasion were handed over to their relatives during a special ceremony held Monday in Nicosia.
The ceremony was held in the courtyard of the General Staff of the National Guard (GEEF) in the presence of Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Issues and Overseas Cypriots Photis Photiou, Deputy Defence Minister of Greece Dimitris Vitsas, the representative of the Greek Cypriot community to the Committee on Missing Persons(CMP) Nestoras Nestoros, military and religious leaders, heads and representatives of political parties and relatives of those killed during the aforementioned periods.
The three of them were included in CMP`s list of missing persons and the other three were in the list of the Republic of Cyprus with the Greeks killed during the Turkish invasion.
Speaking at the ceremony, Photiou said that the issue of missing persons is the most tragic aspect of the Cyprus problem and unfortunately there has not been the necessary cooperation over the years
to address it on behalf of the Turkish side.
He said the decision of the Turkish army to allow access for excavations to 30-35 points within the so-called military zones in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus may lead to the identification of a number of remains of missing persons within three years.
In his address, Nestoros announced that positive developments would occur on the issue of missing persons noting that new identifications are expected in February.
“The verification of the fate of our missing persons is a top priority for all of us as the minimum obligation of the State towards missing persons and those killed in Cyprus”, he added.
The Greek Deputy Defence Minister said that Cyprus and Greece pay tribute to those who lost their lives for their country, the remains of whom were handed over today.
The CMP `s list includes a total of 77 Greek missing persons 73 of whom had gone missing since the 1974 Turkish invasion and 4 of them since the period 1963-`67. The remains of 14 of the 77 have already been identified through DNA testing.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. As a result of the invasion, 1,619 Greek Cypriots were listed as missing, most of whom soldiers or reservists, who were captured in the battlefield.
A Committee on Missing Persons was established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning the remains of missing persons to their relatives. According to CMP, the total number of identifications has reached 625, 476 of whom were Greek Cypriots and 149 Turkish Cypriots.
