Cyprus donates 175 thousand euros to Missing Persons Committee

Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou handed over on Monday to the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) office in Cyprus, Jakhongir Khaydaro, the amount of 175 thousand euros to the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus as a donation from the Republic of Cyprus to the Committee.

According to an official press release, Photiou and Khaydaro had a meeting in the presence of the Greek Cypriot CMP member, Leonidas Pantelides, UNDP officers, CMP officers and Photiou's aides.

The donation was made in the framework of the support provided by the Republic of Cyprus to the CMP with a view to addressing the humanitarian aspect of the Greek Cypriot, Greek and Turkish Cypriot missing persons tragedy, to the benefit of their suffering families.

The Council of Ministers recently approved an additional amount of 77 thousand euros for a specific exhumation in the government-controlled areas of the Republic by the CMP.

Therefore, the total amount of the Republic of Cyprus' donation to the Committee in 2022 is 252 thousand euros.

Since the beginning of the CMP excavation program, the direct donations of the Republic of Cyprus for the program amount to 3.5 million euros, which is the biggest amount among the EU donations.

This does not include other measures aiming to support the CMP program, which are directly funded by the Republic of Cyprus and concern investigation and exhumations.

Handing over the donation, Photiou said that everyone, and especially the families of the missing persons, hopes and expects that the CMP will substantially and effectively address the difficulties and the challenges ahead, with a view to fulfill its humanitarian task as soon as possible.

He noted that it is inhumane and unacceptable that the families experience uncertainty every day for almost half a century as regards the fate of their loved ones.

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 August 1, 2022, out of 2002 missing persons, 1,185 were exhumed and 1,027 were identified. Out of 1510 Greek Cypriot missing persons, 735 were identified and 775 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons, 292 were identified and 200 are still missing.