Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders in joint appeal for information on missing

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Ersin Tatar, the leader of the island’s Turkish Cypriot community, have jointly appealed for information that could lead to the buried remains of people who vanished amid violence and war decades ago, a task with increasing urgency as eyewitnesses die.

Both Christodoulides and Tatar toured the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) that has, since 2006, been tasked with locating, unearthing and identifying the remains of individuals who vanished during clashes in the early 1960s and the 1974 invasion.

Both leaders praised the CMP’s work, which they deemed highly significant, and expressed their shared belief that the humanitarian effort should remain unaffected by political processes.

President Christodoulides stated that they are exploring ways to expedite the effort to find the missing persons, stressing that whether they are Greek Cypriots or Turkish Cypriots, they are all missing individuals who need to be located.

He added that progress on this issue would also send a “clear political message” about building trust between the two sides, which have not engaged in direct talks in six years.

“This is a humanitarian issue, therefore this is something which is outside politics,” Tatar told reporters. “Whatever we can do to improve, as I saw the discovery of missing persons is something that we owe to the families.”

However, Tatar reiterated his demand for the recognition of the breakaway state before any negotiation process takes place.

Both leaders called on anyone with information about possible burial sites to share it with the CMP, assuring witnesses that their information can be treated confidentially.

Information is now at a premium, said Paul-Henri Arni, the UN appointed member of the tripartite committee that also includes a Greek and Turkish Cypriot representative.

Arni told The Associated Press that the CMP has found, identified and returned to relatives the remains of 51.5% of all missing persons.

But having the leaders nudge anyone with information to step forward is essential to resolving the most difficult remaining cases, in which individuals were killed at one spot and buried elsewhere without witnesses.

According to CMP figures, of 1,510 Greek Cypriots and 492 Turkish Cypriots who are missing, 769 and 200 respectively have not been found.

“The issue is access to new information at the moment where witnesses are passing away,” Arni said. “And so we’ve discussed with the leaders ways they could help us through the own networks, also with specific former combatants.”

Work is slow as the chances of finding remains at excavated sites currently stands at 10% – far below the 50% when the CMP began work in earnest in 2006.

Arni said another key source of information are archived witness accounts which have been digitized for easier access, as well as sifting through 900,000 pages of UN, UK and International Committee of the Red Cross archives which produced 3,740 documents of actionable data.

Christodoulides told reporters following the visit to the CMP premises that access to Turkey military archives is still restricted.

Some 80% of the CMP’s 3.2 million euro annual budget is funded by the EU and Arni said additional funding would enable the committee to augment is current number of seven excavation teams to speed up work on 65 new sites.

Christodoulides said it would be a “shame” for more information becoming available but without additional teams to act on them, adding that he would formally ask the EU for more funding. [AP, Kathimerini Cyprus]