‘It is our duty to learn the fate of all the missing’

Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner Anna Aristotelous on Sunday said it is the government’s “duty and commitment” to ascertain the fate of all the people who went missing during Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus.

Speaking at a memorial ceremony to the seven people from the Famagusta district village of Frenaros who all went missing during the invasion, she said the seven had “declared a thunderous presence in front of Attila’s boot, which, no matter how many years pass, will echo for centuries to come”.

“Days like this have been for 50 years and will continue to be days of reflection, for the crimes committed against Cypriot Hellenism, but also for the bravery shown by our heroes, by Demetris Vrakas, Loukas Tsolakkis, Kyriacos Kamilaris, Yasoumis Kile, Theodoros Tsomallouris, Yiannis Zouvanis, and Nikos Ttofis, whose fate is still unknown,” she said.

She added, “the heroes of Frenaros, like the other heroes of the Turkish invasion, were young people, family men, who at the call of their homeland to be on the frontline and in the line of fire and face the heavily armed Turkish soldiers who greatly outnumbered them, were not intimidated.

“They rushed to their guard posts and honoured the oath they took to fight to the end and to defend the Republic of Cyprus to the la          st drop of their blood.”

Moving on to the present day, she said President Nikos Christodoulides has “ranked the issue of missing persons among his high priorities, supporting in practice every effort to ascertain the fate of all the missing persons, and stands by the side of the families of the heroes and missing persons of our country.”

For this reason, she said, “it is our duty to continue working to commit to this cause, so that the fate of all our missing persons can be ascertained, and at the same time, to remain faithful to the principles and values which led our heroes to the pantheon of the immortals.”

The Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) has thus far identified 52 per cent of Cyprus’ missing, with Turkish Cypriot member Hakki Muftuzade saying earlier this month that of the 2,002 Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots listed as missing, 1,051 have been identified. Of these, 756 are Greek Cypriots and 295 are Turkish Cypriots.

“The fate of 754 Greek Cypriots and 197 Turkish Cypriots remains unknown,” he added.

This relative success was praised by former CMP third member Paul-Henri Arni when he left the role last year. He said Cyprus has the “second-best results in the world” regarding the search for missing persons.

There are 42 countries in the world in which there are missing persons from conflict or political violence, and Henri said in most of those, the success rate for finding their remains is below 20 per cent.

“Some are at zero per cent, some at one per cent. Georgia is at 16 per cent. Argentina, a very cold case, is at 20 per cent”, he said.

The highest rate of missing persons found is in the former Yugoslavia, with 75 per cent of missing persons now having been located.