The visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to the Anthropological Laboratory of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) was an important one, Greek Cypriot member of the CMP, Leonidas Pantelides, told CNA on Thursday, adding that “active interest is a valuable support for our work.”
The UNSG, he added, who requested himself to pay a visit at the Anthropological Laboratory, congratulated the staff on their work, spoke about the humanitarian aspect of the issue and expressed his admiration for the efforts being made.
He said that during the meeting of the UNGS and his UN team with the three members of the CMP, a very sincere and substantive discussion took place.
The visit took place on Tuesday afternoon. The UNSG was accompanied by UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre François Renaud Lacroix and Khassim Diagne, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to Cyprus and Head of UNFICYP.
Antonio Guterres was the first time in Cyprus and the first UNSG to visit the island in 16 years. His visit took place 27-29 of July.
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 June 30, 2026 out of 2002 missing persons 1,719 were exhumed and 1,075 were identified. Out of 1,510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 764 were identified and 746 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 311 were identified and 181 are still missing.
Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
After informal meetings in 2025, followed by a hiatus of several months, deliberations are underway for a new meeting in broader format to be held, as the term of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres nears its end. María Angela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.