The remains of 71 missing persons were identified during the first six months of 2013, an indication that the total identifications of the year will reach a record high since the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) was established, CMP members has said.
Addressing a press conference Greek Cypriot Member Aristos Aristotelous, Turkish Cypriot Member Gülden Plümer Küçük and UN Member Paul-Henri Arni stressed the need for extra resources in order for the present volume of work to be maintained.
Replying to a question they said that since 2006 the average number of identified missing persons per year is 56. They further replied positively to a question on whether there are still people coming forward with new information on missing persons, calling at the same time on anyone who does have information to come forward and promising full confidentiality.
Since 2006, 983 human remains have been recovered which corresponds to 49% of all missing persons on the official list concerning both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, Küçük said, adding that out of these 409 or 20.4% were identified and returned to their families. The data concern 388 Greek Cypriot missing persons and 71 Turkish Cypriot missing persons.
“Since January, we have identified 72 people”, she said, adding that “it’s a record year”.
On his part Arni spoke of the changes the CMP has made to its operations. We have doubled the space at the lab, he said, adding that, we have hired six new scientists, which means a total of 60 for both communities in the lab and in the field. According to Arni there are permanently 25 scientists working in the lab and 35 in the field.
Referring to the problems the CMP faced with regard to identifications last year he said that “all members are quite satisfied with the results of the bone sampling process carried out by the ICMP in Bosnia Herzegovina”.
He noted however that “we need more resources”, explaining that in addition to 2.5 million euro they need an extra 300,000 euro per year.
“Without it we cannot sustain the present volume of work”. To that effect the CMP has already conveyed its needs to the European Parliament and the European Commission. At the same time, they have tried to broaden the CMP’s donor basis.
According to Aristotelous there are two significant challenges the CMP is up against; time and resources.
Addressing the press conference he said the work of CMP is appreciated by many fora, countries and organizations.
As a peace building measure it is considered a model for other regions where conflicts exist, he noted, adding that that the CMP has been visited by scientists from Serbia, Kosovo, Iraq and Libya.
He also spoke of the efforts to increase awareness in other quarters of society and in particular to young people. To this effect the Committee has issued an informative leaflet which was distributed to 50,000 students across the island. At the same time the CMP tries to organize events involving the participation of parents and relatives of missing persons, such as concerts.
Cyprus was divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. As a result of the invasion, 1619 Greek-Cypriots were listed as missing, most of whom soldiers or reservists, who were captured in the battlefield.
Among them, however, were many civilians, women and children, arrested by the Turkish invasion troops and Turkish-Cypriot paramilitary groups, within the area controlled by the Turkish army after the end of hostilities and far away from the battlefield. Many of those missing were last seen alive in the hands of the Turkish military.
A further 41 more cases of Greek Cypriot missing persons have been recently added. These cases concern the period between 1963-1964, when inter-communal fighting broke out but none of them has been identified yet.
The number of Turkish Cypriot missing since 1974 and 1963/64 stands at 503.
Since the establishment of CMP in 2006 a total of 747 burial sites were visited and opened. Of the above 486 sites did not contain any human remains. According to CMP data the remains of 23 missing persons were identified in 2012, 51 in 2011, 67 in 2010, 86 in 2009, 54 in 2008 and 56 in 2007.There are approximately 229 remains awaiting anthropological analysis.