DNA TESTING of exhumed remains has confirmed the identity of another 36 people killed before or during the 1974 Turkish invasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday.
Of the 36, 10 identified remains belong to people listed as missing and 26 to soldiers killed during the war.
They included two people, known to have been injured during the military coup that directly preceded the 1974 invasion, who later died in Nicosia General Hospital, and a civilian killed during the Turkish landings.
These latest finds bring the total number of identified bodies to 108, since the exhumation process started in two years ago.
All families have been informed and scientists are currently clarifying the details of their findings.
To assist future DNA identifications, the government yesterday renewed its appeal, urging relatives of the missing to volunteer blood donations.
The exploration of two Nicosia cemeteries has continued despite strenuous objections raised by the authorities in north Cyprus to an agreement they reached with President Glafcos Clerides in July 1997 to exchange information on the location of mass graves, exhuming and returning remains to the next of kin for a proper re-burial.
Since then, of the 108 identified remains, 26 were listed as missing people, 76 members of the military and six civilians killed during the troubles.
Clerides yesterday sent his deepest condolences to the families concerned and promised that his administration would continue to support their plight.
The identification process has been carried out by the Nobel peace prize-winning organisation, Physicians for Human Rights, led by William Haglund and a team of experts from the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics under the aegis of Marios Kariolou.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
