Missing persons committees slam government’s promises as “empty words”
Source: in-cyprus.com
Representatives of Cyprus’s missing persons committees have strongly criticised the government’s approach to resolving cases of individuals who disappeared during conflicts in 1963-64 and 1974, calling official statements “empty words.”
At a parliamentary committee meeting on Wednesday, relatives of the missing accused the government of failing to match rhetoric with action. They highlighted the state’s annual contribution of €300,000 to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) as insufficient, particularly when Cyprus urges increased donations from other countries.
Yiannakis Kolios, representing the Committee of Relatives of the Missing Persons of 1974, alleged that information about a mass grave in Kythrea, provided by the Turkish Cypriot CMP representative, has not been acted upon by the Greek Cypriot side.
Haris Symeonides, speaking for relatives of those missing from 1963-64, described the Republic of Cyprus’s contribution as “negligible.” He noted that despite commitments to operate ten excavation teams, only six are currently active.
Kolios added that approximately 789 persons remain unaccounted for, questioning the pace of excavations and identifications.
These criticisms followed a briefing by Presidential Commissioner Anna Aristotelous to the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees.
The original article: belongs to in-cyprus.com .
