Presidential Commissioner Marios Hartsiotis co-signed on Monday, at the Presidential Palace, with the Head of the UNDP Office in Cyprus Jakhongir Khaydarov, a pound 380,000 funding agreement to support the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) and its operations in 2026.
According to a statement issued by the Office of the Presidential Commissioner, with this year’s contribution, the Republic of Cyprus’ total financial support to the CMP since 2005 has reached pound 4.77 million.
The funding will support the committee’s efforts to locate, exhume, identify and return the remains of missing persons to their families.
Hartsiotis welcomed the signing of the agreement, saying it further strengthens the CMP’s humanitarian work.
He said the issue of missing persons remains a top government priority and reaffirmed the Republic of Cyprus’ commitment to supporting the committee’s work until every missing person is identified.
According to the statement, 1,069 missing persons from both communities in Cyprus have so far been identified and returned to their families for burial.
The Republic of Cyprus will continue to support the CMP and all those working to advance its humanitarian mission, the statement added.
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.