Standing Rapporteur of the EP on the missing persons issue, to visit Cyprus

The Standing Rapporteur on the missing persons in Cyprus, MEP Isabel Santos will visit Cyprus during which she will have a series of contacts regarding the issue of missing persons.

According to a press release by the Office of the European Parliament in Cyprus, on Saturday, 22 July, Santos will have meetings with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot relatives of the missing persons, as well as with experts on the subject, at the EU House.

In addition, on Monday, 24 July, she will hold meetings with the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, the President of the House of Representatives Annita Demetriou, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Constantinos Kombos and the Chairperson and Members of the House Standing Committee on Refugees-Enclaved-Missing-Adversely Affected Persons.

On Monday, 24 July, Santos will meet with the three members of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) in the old Nicosia airport (UN protected area) and right after she will visit the adjacent CMP Anthropological Laboratory. Later on, she will give a press conference outside the CMP Anthropological Laboratory.

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 1,510 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.