A BREAKTHROUGH may have been reached in efforts to locate those who went missing during fighting between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the sixties and seventies – possibly ending the deadlock that has plagued meetings of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) since it was formed in 1981.
The CMP has, since its formation 24 years ago, failed to account for even one of the around two thousand Turkish and Greek Cypriots reported missing after the fighting – although a number of bodies were recovered and identified as a result of unilateral work by other organisations.
But yesterday Pierre Guberand told the Cyprus Mail he believed the CMP was now “taking steps in the right direction”.
His comments came in the wake of groundbreaking meetings earlier this month in which Greek and Turkish Cypriot representatives, with the help of the International Forensic Centre of Excellence for the Investigation of Genocide (INFORCE), managed to create a survey mapping out burial sites across the island.
A press statement released by the CMP after the survey’s completion hailed the meeting a success, stating optimistically that it was “the first time a joint team of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots participated in a survey on the entire territory of the island”.
Yesterday, Turkish Cypriot representative to the CMP Rustem Tatar added to the current optimism, telling the Cyprus Mail he expected excavations to begin in villages in the Kyrenia district soon, under the leadership of INFORCE.
Tatar refused to give more specific locations for the planned excavations, citing “sensitivity towards the relatives” as a reason for secrecy, but indicated there was good reason to believe remains would be found.
This is not the first time hopes have been raised that remains might be found. Last January, excavations, again headed by INFORCE, in the Trachonas district of north Nicosia failed to find any remains whatsoever. It had been hoped the search would lead to the recovery of some 200 Greek Cypriot fighters killed during street battles in 1974.
The failure to find remains led, at the time, to serious doubts over the quality of information being supplied to INFORCE by the Turkish Cypriot side.
Yesterday, Tatar said INFORCE’s forensic scientists would be back on the island in mid-June and that it was the Turkish Cypriot side that had expressed urgency over their returning as soon as possible.
“We told them we had to find graves soon because many are in danger of being destroyed under construction sites. We wanted them [INFORCE] here because we want the excavations to be carried out in accordance with international standards,” Tatar said.
Tatar also spoke of CMP plans to establish a forensic anthropological laboratory in the UN-controlled buffer zone for the analysis of remains found – something which, surprisingly, has been accepted by representatives from both communities.
One thing there has not been agreement on, however, is a request by the Turkish Cypriot side for a DNA testing centre to be set up in the buffer zone, which Tatar says was opposed by the Greek Cypriot side.
“The Greek Cypriots say they already have a lab which they want to use. But we want to make sure everything is done impartially, and that’s why we want it in the buffer zone.”
