THE exploratory digging to locate the remains of Turkish Cypriots killed in 1974 in a Larnaca district village has been completed, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
The remains of 14 Turkish Cypriots were found on Thursday: what remained now is for them to be exhumed and identified using DNA sampling.
“The exploratory digging, which started on Wednesday in the village of Alaminos by a group of scientists of Physicians for Human Rights has been completed,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
“Human remains have been found, which according to existing testimony belong to Turkish Cypriots who lost their lives during the exchange of fire with the National Guard on July 20 1974.”
The statement said that after ascertaining the potential of identifying the remains using DNA sampling, “which necessitates the relatives’ co-operation”, the team would proceed to the exhumation of the remains.
Nineteen people were killed in the July 20 incident – including five National Guardsmen.
The Turkish Cypriots were buried on the site by Greek Cypriot villagers.
The names of the dead from the Alaminos clash are included on the list of 500 Turkish Cypriot missing.
A 1997 agreement signed by President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash provides for exhumation of remains across the island.
Yesterday, the Foreign Ministry said it would facilitate visits to the site of relatives, as well as the Turkish Cypriot member of the Missing Persons Investigating Committee.
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.
