The change in the way informants on the possible whereabouts of remains of missing persons in Cyprus are being approached has had very positive results, Head of Humanitarian Affairs for Missing Persons and the Enclaved, Anna Aristotelous, said on Thursday, adding that within one month six identifications were made.
Aristotelous was addressing the annual World Conference of Overseas Cypriots, which is taking place in Nicosia this week.
Establishing the fate of missing persons constitutes a matter of the utmost importance, Aristotelous said, adding that for that reason “we have bolstered the efforts and changed the way we approach every possible informant.”
Among other things, she said, “we are no longer using the method of taking a witness statement in the style of an interrogation.” Following this change, the flow of information increased with very positive results, she noted, adding that within one month six new identifications were made.
In the last year, we had the identification of 21 remains, seven o
f which relate to the Republic of Cyprus’ programme. Six of them were soldiers of the Greek National Guard, she added.
She noted that the Missing Persons and the Enclaved Humanitarian Office stands by the side of the relatives of the missing persons with the sole aim of determining the fate of each of the missing persons, stressing that ‘the aim is to safeguard the human rights of the missing persons and their relatives, to provide support and meet their needs.’
She said that of the 1,619 missing, 619 were civilians including women and children, while 1,000 were soldiers, reservists and volunteers, with the youngest volunteer being only 17 years old. She added that out of the total number of missing persons, 51% have been identified and 49% are still missing, which numbered 776 missing persons, of which 118 are the missing women from the 1974 Turkish invasion, while 26 of them have been identified so far.
Referring to the fallen, Aristotelous said that the number of the fallen is 960, while 527 have been i
dentified, with 433 still missing, of whom 55 are Greeks. She added that 712 are men and 248 are women, with 38 women identified so far.
Aristotelous highlighted the unseen aspects of the Cypriot tragedy such as women and children. She pointed out that of the 36 missing children, only 20 have been identified so far, with the youngest child being only 6 months old and the oldest 17 years old. She further stressed that missing women and women victims of the Turkish invasion constitute tragic figures of the history of Cyprus, saying that “the least we can do is to acknowledge their contribution and sacrifice.”
Referring to the prisoners of war of the 1974 Turkish invasion, Aristotelous added that they numbered 2,484, aged between 14 and 70 years old.
Speaking about the enclaved persons, Aristotelous said that there is frequent contact with the enclaved and their representatives with the ultimate aim of immediately solving problems in their daily lives, such as food, passage through the checkpoints, allowances
, housing problems and other issues.
She added, among other things, that the Resettlement Plan was revised in order to provide incentives for staying and resettling in the Turkish occupied villages, indicating that the reopening of the Kindergarten and Primary School in Kormakitis was recently achieved.
Aristotelous explained that the number of people currently enclaved is 331, while 360 are resettled. She said that of these, there are 87 enclaved and 32 resettled children, a total of 119.
She praised the role of the Diaspora, expressing her appreciation “for the solidarity and the firm support of the Diaspora in the efforts for the resolution of the Cyprus problem”.
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.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cué
llar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
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.
Source: Cyprus News Agency