Cyprus House President, Annita Demetriou, assured on Monday the relatives of missing persons that she will not cease to raise the issue regarding the need to establish the fate of each and every missing person, during all her meetings with her counterparts and other foreign officials, with a view to assure that international pressure is exerted on Turkey.
Speaking during a ceremony at Makedonitissa Tomb military cemetery, in Nicosia, for the Mother of the Missing Person, Demetriou said that despite the provocatively indifferent position of Ankara towards a series of UN and Council of Europe resolutions as well as a series of European Court of Human Rights decisions condemning Turkey’s stance, the uninterrupted and persistent struggles of the missing persons’ relatives have led to the recognition of this humanitarian issue and to progress in many areas.
The House President added that the fact that exhumations began in 2006 both in the government-controlled and the Turkish-occupied areas of Cyprus by the Committee on Missing Persons constitutes a significant achievement of the relatives’ struggles, adding that a significant number of exhumations have taken place within the zones of the occupation force, and led to the identification and the return of remains to missing persons relatives.
Demetriou paid tribute to all the mothers of the 1974 tragedy many of whom have passed away with the sorrow of their losses.
Source: Cyprus News Agency