Nicosia: The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) has received a donation of 15,000 pounds from the Portuguese Republic. This contribution, made on August 25, enhances Portugal’s total financial support to the CMP to 30,000 pounds since the year 2018.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the funds will aid the CMP’s mission of identifying and returning the remains of missing individuals. This effort aims to resolve the long-standing uncertainty faced by the families of the missing, offering them a sense of closure.
Cyprus has been a divided nation since 1974, following the invasion and occupation of 37% of its territory by Turkish forces. The conflict left hundreds of individuals unaccounted for, and their families in search of answers.
The CMP was established in April 1981, under the auspices of the United Nations, through an agreement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. This initiative followed calls from two UN General Assembly resolutions to create a mechanism addressing this issue.
In 2006, the CMP launched its Project on the Exhumation, Identification, and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in Cyprus. The European Union remains the project’s primary financial contributor. To date, the project has successfully identified and returned 1,055 missing persons from both Cypriot communities to their families, facilitating dignified burials.