The importance of solving the issue of the missing persons is shown by the establishment in 1981 of an independent organisation called the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) under the auspices of the United Nations and comprising members of both the Turkish Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot communities as well as the co-operation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the organisation is based upon investigating thoroughly all cases submitted by both sides using evidence provided by them.

The total number of missing persons originally reported was 2422, 1619 Greek Cypriots and 803 Turkish Cypriots. By 1995 these numbers were reduced for submitting to the CMP and 126 and 303 were respectively excluded. This was a percentage decrease of 38% of Turkish Cypriots and only 8% of Greek Cypriots. In the light of the information available, many cases, which were submitted by the Greek side, ought to have been deleted at the point of the review for the following reasons.

It was common thought among Greek Cypriots for many years that their missing persons were alive and being held in Turkey when, in fact, they were already known to be officially dead, mostly direct war casualties before the 1974 intervention took place, and in Greek Cypriot internal fighting. The truth was that there was no evidence that the Greek Cypriots were still alive but the Greek Cypriots did not accept a missing person as dead unless his bodily remains were found and identified.

The level of Greek Cypriot co-operation with the CMP has been debatable and even after the Secretary-General intervened in 1992 with proposals to clarify the obligations of both sides, the Greek Cypriots did not accept all the proposals. A precondition for the reconvening of the CMP at a later date was the submission by both sides of all the cases of missing persons to the Office of the Third Member. The Turkish Cypriot side did so within the time limit set, whereas the Greek Cypriot side delayed to submit a number of times.

Once the evidence was available, there were some dramatic revelations. The long publicized number of 1619 missing Greek Cypriots was found to include the names of those known to be dead and buried, as well as those who were living happily in Cyprus. The secrecy about the contents of the list of 1619, maintained since 1974, was for the concealment of the truth. As a result the Greek Cypriots submitted a number of 1493 cases. The reason behind publicizing this figure was to avoid disclosing the truth to the families who had deliberately been misinformed and misled.

The figures are as follows:

Despite the number of meetings, it has not been possible to conclude a single case due to the above reasons. The prolongation of this issue cannot be justified as it continues to poison the relations between the two communities thereby preventing restoration of intercommunal confidence without which lasting peace cannot be established in Cyprus.

For further details on missing persons, please contact the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus London Representative Office, 29 Bedford Square, London W1N 3EG on 0171 631 1920.