US experts arrive in Cyprus to aid search for missing persons

A team of forensic experts from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is set to arrive in Cyprus next week to assist in locating the remains of missing persons from the island’s past conflicts. Using advanced ground-penetrating methods, the team aims to identify potential burial sites that have previously evaded discovery.

The specialists will conduct investigations from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8, employing Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) techniques. ERT, which involves injecting small electrical currents into the ground, could reveal disturbances suggesting previous digging or ground movement.

According to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), which coordinates search efforts, the experts will examine four locations: one in the government-controlled areas and three in the Turkish-controlled north.

In the south, the team will survey a site between Aglantzia and Geri, near the University of Cyprus campus, where evidence suggests a potential burial site for two Turkish Cypriots from 1964. Previous efforts in the area had yielded no results.

In the north, the CMP plans to investigate a prison-area site in Trachonas, believed to be the location of a mass grave of Greek Cypriots, as well as a spot in Agia Eirini in Kyrenia, thought to contain the remains of two Turkish Cypriots from 1974. Another site in Assia, also dating back to 1974, is believed to hold a mass grave of Greek Cypriots. Excavations in Assia had previously uncovered remains, and archaeologists now hope to locate the remains of up to five additional individuals. Expansion of a nearby Turkish Cypriot cemetery is currently underway.

This marks the second visit by experts from the U.S. university; last September, a team conducted similar searches at four sites across Cyprus. In one instance, investigators detected ground disturbances in occupied Myrtou, near the Panagra Dam, though no remains were ultimately found.

Should ground disturbances be detected during this year’s survey, CMP archaeologists will initiate excavations. However, experts caution that these methods can reveal natural ground shifts as well, and not all disturbances may be linked to human activity.