Archaeologists and digger through Cyprus’ missing persons funding

Eight more archaeologists and a new digger have been secured with Cyprus’ latest funds for the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP).

The agreement for €300,000 was signed on Monday at the presidential palace between the Republic of Cyprus and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Undersecretary to the president Ireni Piki signed the agreement with UNDP representative Alexandre Pieto.

Pieto said the contribution was an indication of “the trust that you have in us in doing this very important and sensitive work for Cyprus”.

Piki thanked the UNDP for the “very important work” it is carrying out in Cyprus, including its support to the work of the CMP.

“As a token of the support of the Republic of Cyprus, the government has decided to increase its annual financial contribution to the CMP from €175,000 to €300,000, with an aim to intensify the excavation work.”

Greek Cypriot representative in the CMP Leonidas Pantelides said that the funding would cover the costs of hiring eight new archaeologists and purchasing an excavator “to increase our excavation capacity”.

The CMP annual budget is €3.2 million, of which 80 per cent comes from the EU. To date, the EU has contributed over €30 million to this end. The Republic of Cyprus has contributed a total of €4 million.

The CMP 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.