Greek MP, Giannis Andrianos, said today, during a meeting with House of Representatives President, Annita Demetriou, that the Greek Parliament wishes to speed up the establishment of a “National Day for the Missing Persons of Cyprus”.
According to a House of Representatives press release, Andrianos added that Greece and the Greek Parliament stand by Cyprus and they are ready to promote the issue at European and international level.
Demetriou welcomed the intention of the Greek parliament to establish October 29 as the “National Day for the Missing Persons of Cyprus” and added that propagating the need for ascertaining the fate of the missing persons is a high priority.
Demetriou and Andrianos also discussed ways to broaden collaboration and coordination between the two parliaments, towards this joint goal.
The House President underlined that the main obstacle in ascertaining the fate of the missing persons is Turkey’s denial to cooperate and she also briefed those attending the meeting, on the latest developments in the Cyprus problem.
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