The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) received a donation of €100,000 from the Turkish Cypriot community on Thursday.
This contribution brings the Turkish Cypriot community’s financial assistance to the CMP to a total of €683,000 since 2006, a press release says.
It is added that the funds will contribute to the Committee’s goal of identifying and returning the remains of missing individuals, bringing to an end the uncertainty which has affected the families for so many years.
It is recalled that the CMP was established in 1981 by an agreement between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot leaders, under the auspices of the United Nations. The CMP Project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in Cyprus became operational in 2006 and is co-funded by the European Union.
So far, 1,051 missing persons from both Cypriot communities have been identified and returned to their families for dignified burials.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.