Thursday’s visit by the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhrman, to the Anthropological Laboratory of the Committee on Missing Persons and the references to the CMP in the joint communiqué issued after their meeting are a clear expression of support for the Committee’s work, Leonidas Pantelides, representative of the Greek Cypriot community in the CMP, told CNA on Friday.
He added that by the end of 2025, approximately 130 excavations are expected to have been completed, noting that at the current pace of work, 10% of the CMP’s efforts are successful.
Asked if yesterday’s visit by President Christodoulides and the Turkish Cypriot leader to the Committee’s Anthropological Laboratory had resulted in any developments that would further assist the CMP’s work, Pantelides said that the aim of yesterday’s visit was not to secure anything specific, despite the concrete benefits that emerged.
“It was a gesture of support for the Committee, which helps us in many ways. It helps us with witnesses who are reluctant to speak, it helps us in general with the assistance we receive from the authorities with whom we are forced to work, it helps us with donors, it helps us in many ways, but indirectly,” he added.
“From our previous experience, we know that this expression of support from the highest political level helps us. The fact that we have this support gives us the space we need to be able to move forward, to do the difficult things we are trying to do,” he further noted.
Asked if changes are expected on the ground regarding access points or additional information, Pantelides said that this is something that will become clear in the future.
“However, I would say that based on our previous experience, but also our general experience, this public expression of support helps us a lot with various players we have to deal with,” he reiterated.
Asked about the excavations currently underway, Pantelides said that there are always 8 or 9 excavations, depending on machinery availability.
“We have 9 teams, sometimes we use 2 teams in the same spot, but we are usually at 8 spots and sometimes at 9 spots, usually one in the free areas and the rest in the occupied areas, that’s the pace,” he continued.
“By the end of the month, we estimate that we will have carried out around 130 excavations, some of which have yielded results. At the current rate, we are successful in about 10% of our efforts because the information we have at our disposal is less reliable in terms of accuracy than it was at the beginning of the programme,” he added.
“The easiest cases were tackled first, and now we are attempting the most difficult ones. But we are obliged not to leave any information unexamined. It is a natural consequence that the percentages are different from what they were in the past,” he further noted.
Asked about the work planned for the new year, Pantelides said that the Commission will continue in the new year, learning from its experience and hoping that with increased pace, it will have increased success and increased return on its efforts.
Asked if the Greek Cypriot side requested anything specific from yesterday’s meeting between the two leaders, Pantelides said that nothing specific was raised during the visit.
“However, a private meeting between the President and Mr. Erhrman followed, and I do not yet know exactly whether specific ways to strengthen the Committee were discussed. But the fact that two paragraphs on the CMP were included in the joint communiqué after the meeting is very welcome and, I think, a clear expression of support,” Pantelides concluded.
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, 2025 out of 2002 missing persons 1,707 were exhumed and 1,057 were identified. Out of 1,510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 761 were identified and 749 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 296 were identified and 196 are still missing.