The fight to ascertain the fate of all missing persons, Greek Cypriots, Greeks and Turkish Cypriots will continue, pledged on Monday the office of the Presidential Commissioner on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance marked on 30th August.
The office urged anyone who has information on the fate of the missing or about possible burial sites to immediately inform the relevant services.
For the International Day of the Disappeared, it is noted that disappearances have been enshrined as a crime against humanity, adding that in Cyprus the feeling of pain and bitterness which all bear, and especially the families of the missing persons, “are inevitably more intense today, especially for about 750 families, who have been waiting and experiencing daily the uncertainty of the fate of their loved ones for almost half a century.”
This unacceptable and inhumane situation is due to the callousness and denial presented for so many decades by the occupation power. It urged Turkey, once again, to cooperate and to undertake the political and humanitarian decisions necessary for the benefit of the families that are suffering.
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