Cyprus Archbishop urges global action for peace, hostages' release

Archbishop Georgios of Cyprus, who received October 7 terrorist attack survivor, Gal Gilboa Dalal, called on the leaders of the powerful countries in the world to exercise their influence for peace in the region and for all the hostages to return to their homes, according to a statement from the Archbishopric.

According to the statement, Archbishop Georgios received on Tuesday in his office at the Archbishopric in Nicosia, Gal Gilboa Dalal “who is on our island to convey the agony of the 101 Israeli hostages who are being held until today.”

“The recounting of the events by Mr Gal also scratches our own wounds that as Cypriot Hellenism we experienced and continue to experience, this unspeakable tragedy, for the last 50 years”, the announcement said, referring to the refugees and missing persons since the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

Therefore, it said, the Archbishop noted “that he understands the distress and sympathises with Mr Gal and all relatives of hostages living in similar situations.”

It also said that the Archbishop sent the following message: “The problem of missing persons or in this case hostages, is a humanitarian and not a political issue. It is a shame to humanity itself that our fellow human beings, who were civilians on either side, are missing or detained. We call on the Leaders of the powerful countries of Humanity to exert their dynamic influence so that peace can be brought to the region and of course all the hostages return to their homes”.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.

Since 1974, 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.