The President of the Republic and the government are making every effort to resolve the issue of the missing persons, said on Saturday Presidential Commissioner, Fotis Fotiou, who assured that the “sacred and honest” struggle for justice and clarification of the fate of every missing person will be continued.
In his speech at the funeral of Michalis Charalambous, who fell heroically during the Turkish invasion of 1974, Fotiou said that the Republic of Cyprus demands from the International Community, and especially the United Nations and the European Union, to join its efforts to put an end to the suffering experienced daily by the families of the missing persons.
He stressed the will of the Cyprus government to resume a new negotiating effort, for a solution on the island “in accordance with the resolutions and decisions of the United Nations and the principles and values of the European Union without foreign guarantees and occupying troops and with full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
He also pointed out that “the big problem is the arrogant behavior of the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot leadership with their unacceptable provocations in the eastern Mediterranean and in the issue of Varosha, as well as the condition that is contrary to any notion of law, which they set for the recognition by the international community of a separate Turkish Cypriot sovereignty and a solution of two states “.
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. So far, the remains of 722 Greek Cypriots and 284 Turkish Cypriots were returned to their families. Since the start of the year, until May 2021, the remains of 12 individuals were identified and remains belonging to 6 people were exhumed in various excavations.