DIGGING began yesterday at a site in the Paralimni area where it is believed an unspecified number of Turkish Cypriots were buried in a mass grave after they were killed during the intercommunal troubles of 1963-1964.
Reports filtered through all day that mystery digging was taking place in the area. CyBC said that, according to their information, the work was related to the exhumation of Turkish Cypriot remains.
An eyewitness told the Cyprus Mail the area was crawling with plainclothes police and intelligence officers, and that by late afternoon nothing had been found.
It was also late afternoon before a written statement came through from the Committee for Missing Persons (CMP) saying it was an emergency dig. The Turkish Cypriot side was said to be aware of the excavation.
“The emergency excavation work is being carried out in the Paralimni area because of impeding construction work, which is due to begin in the area,” it said.
“An emergency exhumation was previously carried out in the Mesaoria area,” it added.
It is also understood that an excavation was conducted in the Latsia area of Nicosia in April, without attracting any public attention. It is believed that some remains were exhumed from the area and taken away for DNA testing and identification.
There are around 500 Turkish Cypriot missing persons from between 1963 and 1974, when Turkey invaded the island.
There are around 1,500 Greek Cypriots still unaccounted for. The number was over 1,600 but dozens have been identified by means of DNA over the past few years.
Both sides have now agreed to end the missing persons saga on humanitarian grounds, and work is moving ahead.
The two Cypriot members of the CMP met yesterday with the new UN-appointed third member, Christophe Girod, who was on a flying visit to the island. Girod also met President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
According to the CMP statement, Girod, who will take up his post fully in July, also visited the Paralimni site yesterday.
When he visited Papadopoulos yesterday Girod, was accompanied by the UN Secretary-general’s Special Representative in Cyprus, Michael Moller.
Also present were Director of the Diplomatic Office of the President of the Republic Tasos Tzionis and the Greek Cypriot representative in CMP Elias Georgiades.
Speaking after the meeting, Government Spokesman George Lillikas said the Greek Cypriot side remained committed to its proposal for a meeting between the leaders of the two communities in the presence of Girod.
The proposal for the meeting was made some months ago and it was agreed that nothing else relating to the Cyprus issue would be discussed.
The two leaders have not met since before the April 2004 referendum on the failed Annan plan.
“Our side has reiterated its commitment for a meeting between the two leaders in the presence of the Committee member so they could lend their support towards solving what is a purely humanitarian issue,” Lillikas said.
He said Papadopoulos was ready for such a meeting at any time.
If and when it happens, the meeting, which is expected to take place at Moller’s residence, is likely to be more symbolic than practical, since the bulk of the work on the missing persons is carried out by the CMP.
The meeting on missing persons is separate from the issue of technical committees to be set up to discuss day-to-day issues between the two sides, as agreed during the February meeting between Papadopoulos and UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan.
