By Martin Hellicar
IT COULD be a long time before exhumations of Nicosia graves thought to hold the remains of missing persons bring any results, the American professor heading the ground-breaking operation warned yesterday.
Professor William Haglund and his two-member team from non-governmental organisation ‘Physicians for Human Rights’ began preparatory exhumations on Friday. It is hoped digging at two Nicosia cemeteries will unearth remains of Greek Cypriots listed missing since the 1974 invasion. These remains will then be identified by DNA fingerprinting.
The operation to open up 65 graves of unknown soldiers at the Lakatamia and the Constantinou and Elenis cemeteries is the result of a deal for exchange on information on the missing agreed between President Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in July 1997.
The exhumation expert said yesterday that while he was fully aware of the sensitivity of the missing issue the job could not be rushed.
“I know that for 25 years the people of Cyprus have been very patient and I am sure they are happy we are here and that we are making some progress,” Haglund told reporters outside the Lakatamia military cemetery yesterday morning.
“But… we have to ask you for a little bit more patience because the work we do is very slow and we are going to take our time and do things right,” he said.
Haglund would not be drawn on how long it would be before the first tangible results were available. “If I was a prophet I would be able to stay at home and tell you that on the telephone,” he replied to a relevant question.
The Greek Cypriot side lists 1,619 people missing as missing since 1974 while the Turkish Cypriot side lists 803 as missing since the outbreak of intercommunal hostilities in 1964.
A year ago, two women whose husbands are on the missing list began digging graves at the Lakatamia cemetery with their bare hands, convinced their menfolk were buried there.
Haglund said there were no clear records of what was buried in the cemetery, making the task more difficult.
“The history of the cemetery is very complex, there have been previous exhumations over different periods of time… we are going on the basis that we have to exhume everything,” the professor said.
Results of DNA tests on unearthed remains are not expected for at least three months. The DNA analysis will be carried out by the Institute of Neurology, which has established a databank with samples from relatives of the missing.
The three-member Physicians for Human Rights team is being assisted by National Guardsmen acting as labourers.
A number of government officials were also on site yesterday as a digger began what Haglund described as a “test trench” in the cemetery.
The trench is not on a grave site and is not expected to expose any remains, but will rather give investigators an idea of the sort of soil conditions to be found in the cemetery.
Diko deputy and former state pathologist Marios Matsakis and Nicos Theodosiou, president of the Committee for Missing Persons, were also on site taking a keen interest in proceedings.
The government says it has ordered the exhumations for humanitarian reasons despite the fact that the Turkish side has pulled out of the July 1997 missing deal. Shortly before the Turkish side jumped ship, in January 1998, files relating to the whereabouts of the graves of some 400 Greek Cypriots and 200 Turkish Cypriots were exchanged under UN auspices.
Clerides has recently pleaded with Denktash for the two sides to work together to end the suffering of relatives of the missing.
The government has promised that relatives of the missing will be informed of the exhumation findings and will be given the remains of their loved ones for proper burial.
