CMP: More human remains discovered in Troulli excavation site

Two members of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), Leonidas Pantelides, from the Greek Cypriot office and Hakkı Müftüzade from the Turkish Cypriot office visited the excavation site in Troulloi/Trulli on the 7th of November, where human remains had been discovered.

According to a CMP press release the Members were briefed by Ourania Michael, (CMP Team Leader) on the work of the archaeology team.

Excavation in Troulloi/Trulli started in August 2022, following information provided by witnesses. The team started excavating the well using a drilling technique. At the 11th meter, the team found human remains and stopped the machinery and prepared the site for manual excavation over a period of two months by building an access ramp, the press release said.

The team looking for three persons who went missing during the years 1963-1964, found a fourth person at the excavation site, after continuing the excavation manually, it added.

The CMP members reiterated the importance of people with information coming forward. “Any piece of information is valuable to us. We urge the public one more time to get in touch with our teams to share any piece of knowledge they have,” they noted.

According to the press release, information can be shared with the CMP teams anonymously via the telephone numbers 151 for the Greek Cypriot office and 181 for the Turkish Cypriot office, or via the CMP website at www.cmp-cyprus.org.

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.