Newsroom / CNA
The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus is currently conducting six excavations in both the occupied and free territories of the country to locate the remains of missing individuals and determine their fate. The Committee has so far identified 776 Greek Cypriot missing persons, but another 772 people are still missing. In 2019, permits were issued for 10 military sites per year in the occupied territories, but work continued the following year due to time constraints. Five excavations are currently being carried out in the occupied areas and one in the free areas. The Archbishop, the House Refugee Committee chairman, and a relatives' organization have called for more pressure on Turkey from all sides to help locate missing persons.
During a press conference at the Archdiocese for the launch of the 38th Missing Persons' Love Marathon, the Archbishop, the House Refugee Committee chairman, and a relatives' organization called for more pressure on Turkey from all sides on the issue. Nicos Kettiros, the Chairman of the House Standing Committee on Refugees-Enclaved-Missing-Adversely Affected Persons, emphasized the importance of international pressure to resume and bear fruit for the efforts. The president of the Pancyprian Organisation of Relatives of Undeclared Prisoners and Missing Persons, Nicos Sergides, criticized the unjustified delays and difficulties faced by the Committee on Missing Persons.
