Family of policeman missing from 1974 may finally get benefit

The state is about to begin calculating the salaries of policeman Panayiotis Pavlou who went missing in the 1974 Turkish invasion, since his family had not received any benefits and his wife was left with four children – the eldest eight at the time – and worked in fields to raise them.

The House refugee committee continued discussing the matter on Tuesday and called on the state to make amends to the family, from Polystypos, Nicosia.

Pavlou’s wife, Maroulla, who died six months ago, also had to pay off the loan on her husband’s car, which was requisitioned by the National Guard during the invasion.

Committee chairman Akel MP Nikos Kettiros said Maroulla never received proper recompense because for some reason the approval dated December 1974 had been cancelled in January 1975 by an unknown person, who initialled the decision and crossed out the cheque.

MPs were informed on Tuesday that the Law Office had issued its opinion and now the salaries are to be calculated.

“What is odd is that no one was in a position – neither the social insurance nor the police – to tell us the salary Panayiotis Pavlou was being paid,” Kettiros said.

Kettiros added that the process of calculating the salaries must proceed quickly.

In the meantime, all MPs in the committee said all 1974 files must be re-examined to determine any other similar cases. The committee, he added, did not have access to the files, nor did the association of relatives.

“This family never received a benefit,” Kettiros added.

“It’s not the money. It’s not the millions this family will be receiving. It is more of a moral satisfaction in memory of a hero and his wife who died six months ago.”