The Estonian President met with Pantelides, the Turkish Cypriot member of the CMP, Hakki Müftüzade, and the Acting (UN) Third Member of the Committee, Bruce Koepke
Estonian President, Alar Karis, who is in Cyprus on an official visit, had a meeting on Thursday with the members of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), where he was informed about the Committee’s work.
Greek Cypriot Member of the CMP, Leonidas Pantelides, asked by CNA about the meeting, said that, during their meeting with the Estonian President, they made a presentation of the Committee’s work. The meeting took place at the CMP’s Anthropological Laboratory in the Nicosia buffer zone.
“He saw with his own eyes the work being done in the laboratory, but we also gave him a more general briefing on how the research is done, the excavation part, our contact with the families, all aspects of the programme”, Pantelides said.
The Estonian President met with Pantelides, the Turkish Cypriot member of the CMP, Hakki Müftüzade, and the Acting (UN) Third Member of the Committee, Bruce Koepke.
According to Pantelides, the Estonian President showed great interest, and asked many questions. “Discussion with him was very interesting”, he said.
Pantelides said that there was international interest in the CMP’s work, noting that they have continuous visits, including from the Presidents of Germany, Italy, and Estonia, as well as from other delegations. This interest, he said, helps keep the missing persons issue alive, and exerts the necessary influences to be able to continue their work unhindered.
He noted that they welcome these visits.
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.
According to statistical data published on the CMP website by December 31, 2023 out of 2002 missing persons 1,205 were exhumed and 1,045 were identified. Of the 1510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 752 were identified and 758 are still missing. Of the 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 293 were identified and 199 are still missing.
Source: CNA
