Finding missing persons is ‘top priority’, Christodoulides says

Finding the 920 people who remain unidentified after going missing during Cyprus’ 1963-1964 intercommunal conflicts and the 1974 Turkish invasion is “a top priority”, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Thursday, as he marked “missing persons day”, which has been observed by the Greek Cypriot community on October 29 since 2010. “We stand with respect alongside their families, who for decades have endured the agony of uncertainty and rightfully await answers regarding their loved ones. For the Republic of Cyprus, the issue of the missing is, first and foremost, a humanitarian one,” he said. He added that “our efforts will continue until the fate of every single missing person has been determined. ” “In this context, we provide substantive support to the work of the Committee of Missing Persons, offering all necessary institutional, technical and financial assistance.

At the same time, we are intensifying our efforts to collect, evaluate and utilise testimonies and archival records,” he said. This, he said, is being done so as to “accelerate the processes of exhumation and identification, and to ensure that families are kept properly and meaningfully informed”. “At the international level, we treat the issue of missing persons as a top priority. It is a subject of discussion in every engagement with the Turkish Cypriot leadership, Turkey, the United Nations, the European Union and the international community,” he said. Christodoulides demands ‘full and unconditional access’ to Turkish military archives On this front, he said that “our position is clear and specific”, and that he is demanding “full and unconditional access to the archives of the Turkish military and any other relevant authority”. This, he said, must entail “the provision of all information regarding…