Newsroom / CNA
Excavations are currently carried out by the Committee on missing persons (CMP) at seven sites in the areas under control of the Republic of Cyprus and the occupied areas to locate remains of missing Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
Cyprus News Agency has learned from the office of the Greek Cypriot member in CMP that one unit is carrying out excavations in occupied Nicosia, in the wider area of the Central Prisons department.
In 2015, two graves were located with the remains of a total of 30 people who were identified and returned to their beloved. There is information about a third grave and work is being done there. But there are difficulties in the excavations as the area has changed and new buildings were constructed since 1974.
The information says that soldiers are buried there from the Nicosia area.
In occupied Karavas, a well is being excavated but no remains were found and CMP’s forensic unit will be move to another area in the occupied Lapithos.
An excavation effort in Kythrea yielded no results. Efforts are continuing with another unit in Aloa. An exhumation was carried out there and remains of 31 people were found in the past, but now work continues.
In the occupied Trachonas, efforts are also continuing and so far, remains of one individual were located. Archeologists are carrying out excavations in Lapithos since December 2023 when a bone fragment was discovered.
In the Republic of Cyprus one unit is conducting excavations in the area of Kalavasos, specifically in two wells where there is information about missing Turkish Cypriots.
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 December 31, 2023, out of 2002 missing persons 1,228 were exhumed and 1,044 were identified. Out of 1510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 751 were identified and 759 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 293 were identified and 199 are still missing.
