Important mails Turkey has granted access to 30 `military areas` in occupied Cyprus, over a three-year period for excavations for missing persons.
According to press release issued Thursday by the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), the Commitee
was notified by the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, Mustafa Akıncı, that Turkey “had formally agreed to provide access for CMP excavation teams to all 30 currently known suspected burial sites in military areas in the north of Cyprus”.
The press release says that access will be given over a three year period, starting in January 2016, with ten sites to be excavated each year.
“The CMP Members welcome this decision which will accelerate the Committee’s humanitarian work. The CMP wishes to thank all those involved in achieving this important breakthrough”, the press release reads.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. The fate of hundreds of people remains unknown. UN-led talks, aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof, resumed on May 15, this year.
The Committee on Missing Persons has been 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.