So far this year, 12 individuals from the official list of missing persons of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) have been identified, while remains believed to belong to 20 individuals have been found in eight excavations, Leonidas Pantelides, the Greek Cypriot member of the CMP, told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) on Tuesday.
He stressed the importance of information to the CMP, noting that every detail helps in forming a complete picture regarding burial sites.
Asked by CNA how many identifications were made this year, Pantelides replied that 12 individuals from the official CMP list of missing persons have been identified, adding more identifications were pending, expected to be completed in 2026.
Invited to say whether the numbers were at the same levels as in previous years, he said they were approximately at the same levels, ‘decreased, but stable.’ He noted that everything depends on the findings. ‘This year, for example, we had 20 findings which have not yet been identified,’ he said, adding that identifications take time.
According to Pantelides, the 12 identifications concern remains found in 2024, and possibly some that were located further back and concern difficult cases that were identified only now. He said that once the remains of a missing person are identified, families are informed immediately.
Pantelides also said that this year the CMP found, in eight excavations, remains believed to correspond to 20 individuals, something that will be confirmed through the identification process, which, as he noted, takes several months.
Asked about the locations the remains were found, he said he would prefer not to name the areas until identifications were completed, to avoid causing distress to families who might think the remains belong to their loved ones, only to later find out that they do not.
He added that of the nearly 130 excavations carried out this year, eight yielded findings. He noted that excavations were conducted in about 20% more locations this year compared to last year. He said that last year excavations took place at around 105-106 sites, while this year they are approaching 130 by the end of the week.
Asked about the adequacy of excavation crews, Pantelides said that at present there is sufficient personnel for nine crews, though this does not mean that nine excavations are taking place simultaneously. ‘At the moment we are working on eight,’ he said, noting that if there is an excavation that is urgent, two teams may work simultaneously at the same site.
‘However, we usually work with eight teams and often nine. If we assign two or three archaeologists to a separate group, another excavation begins and a ninth team is formed,’ he explained.
Asked about the flow of information, Pantelides said there is information coming in, ‘but we would like more.’
‘We always ask the public, if they know something that could help us,’ he said. He noted that sometimes new information is received, but most of the information concerns cases already known to the CMP, though without a complete picture, ‘because we have an issue as regards accuracy.’
He stressed that they trust witnesses are telling the truth, but that after so many years they may not remember the exact location. ‘You understand, therefore, that a small detail from someone else may complete the missing pieces,’ he added.
Noting that the first missing persons date back to December 1963, he said that after 62 years it is not easy to locate them. ‘Every detail can help us. That is why we always call on the public, if they know something, even a small detail can help us clarify something else,’ he added.
Pantelides also noted that restrictions continue to be in place in military areas in the Turkish occupied territories and that there has been no change in this regard.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Since then, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown.
A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning to their relatives the remains of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Greek Cypriots, who went missing during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-1964 and in 1974.
According to statistical data published on the CMP website by November 30, 2025 out of 2002 missing persons 1,713 were exhumed and 1,058 were identified. Out of 1,510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 762 were identified and 748 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 296 were identified and 196 are still missing.