Establishing the fate of missing persons remains an outstanding duty of the state, Deputy Minister for Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides said on Sunday, delivering a memorial address on behalf of the President of the Republic at the annual national memorial service for the heroes and martyrs of the Troulloi community.
He added that a just, viable and functional solution to the Cyprus problem, in accordance with international and European law, remained a top Government priority. He said the Government was working to turn diplomatic momentum into a meaningful resumption of negotiations.
‘Establishing the fate of your loved ones remains an outstanding duty of the state. We recognise the work of the Committee on Missing Persons and of all those who contribute to locating, exhuming and scientifically identifying remains, and returning them to families. This work serves human dignity and addresses the pain of families,’ he said.
Ioannides added that Turkey had an obligation to cooperate meaningfully, grant access to the archives of the occupying army and provide information on burial sites and the transfer of remains.
‘The search cannot be abandoned. The passage of time does not erase this duty; it makes its fulfilment even more urgent’, he said, adding that families have the right to evidence-based answers about the fate of their loved ones ‘and the war crimes committed by the Turkish army’.
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 September 30, 2026 out of 2002 missing persons 1,721 were exhumed and 1,085 were identified. Out of 1,510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 765 were identified and 745 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 320 were identified and 172 are still missing.