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18 August, 2015Hristodulidis: “Criteria for territorial adjustments are being discussed”
18 August, 2015The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), which has been conducting works to recover, identify and return those who have lost their lives in the events that occurred in Cyprus in 1963, 1964 and 1974 or those who have been missing ever since, started to conduct excavations yesterday in the area behind the Central Jail in Lefkosa.
Answering a question addressed to her by a reporter, Turkish Cypriot member of the Committee, Gülden Plümer Küçük said that they aim to find the corpses of around 40 to 50 Greek Cypriots in the excavations that they started to conduct yesterday. Küçük also said that this was the third permission they had obtained this year from the military to carry out a dig, and the 28th in total.
Stating that the excavation around the fishing port in Lapta has been concluded lastly, Küçük noted that they started conducting excavations again last week after a break due to hot weather.
Saying that they have been informed that 40 to 50 Greek Cypriots, who had fought in 1974, are buried there, Gülden Plümer Küçük stated that they faced some difficulties due to construction works and changing landscapes, however they believe that they will find the corpses in the excavations that they started to conduct yesterday.
Küçük also added that the corpses of Greek Cypriots were tried to be transferred to the Greek Cypriot side through the Ledra Palace at that time in the presence of the UN, however they were buried around the jail because they were not taken.
According to the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), 2001 persons (493 Turkish Cypriots and 1,508 Greek Cypriots) were reported missing. As of now, 451 Greek Cypriots and 144 Turkish Cypriots have been identified and returned to their families. The CMP has recovered the corpses of 969 persons in 999 excavation sites.