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Artificial intelligence and underground radar technology are being deployed in Cyprus to help find and identify people who went missing during some of the island’s darkest chapters, from the intercommunal violence of the 1960s to the Turkish invasion of 1974.
The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), supported by the United Nations, is now turning to high-tech tools to speed up the painstaking process of locating unmarked burial sites and returning remains to families.
“We aim to strengthen our capabilities through new technologies,” said UN representative Pierre Gentil, who works alongside one Greek Cypriot and one Turkish Cypriot member on the CMP.
So far, the committee has located and exhumed 1,707 individuals, and 1,270 sets of remains have been identified and returned to their families. Still, over 700 people are officially still missing, many buried in makeshift or unmarked graves across both sides of the island.
A race against time
The work is slow and getting harder. Many of the original witnesses are elderly or no longer alive. Over time, landscapes have changed, memories have faded, and witness accounts sometimes conflict.
The CMP relies heavily on anonymous testimonies, often from people who lived through the events or had knowledge of where victims were buried. But with fewer leads and increasing difficulty accessing accurate information, progress has slowed in recent years.
To keep the effort alive, the CMP is now using AI to scan and process digital archives, hoping to uncover new clues hidden in old records. They are also expanding their use of ground-penetrating radar, which can detect irregularities underground that may point to burial sites.
One of the few areas of cooperation
The issue of missing persons remains one of the most painful aspects of the island’s history. Yet, it is also one of the rare areas where Greek and Turkish Cypriots work side by side toward a shared humanitarian goal.
“This is sacred work,” said Turkish Cypriot representative Hakkı Müftüzade. “We are fully aware of the duty entrusted to us.”
The CMP was established in 1981 but began exhumations in 2006. Their mission is clear: to bring dignity, closure, and peace to the families still searching for answers, and to do so together, across community lines.
