President Mustafa Akinci has announced that the presidency has donated 50,000 euro to the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus for research to be carried out on the 1963, 1964 and 1974 periods to find the burial sites of missing persons in Cyprus.
In order for the missing persons in Cyprus to be located, a project has been developed by the Missing Persons Committee to research archives in Cyprus and abroad.
Akinci said that apart from the current budget that has been set up for the team to carry out the research, there is a need for an additional budget and added that with this aim the TRNC presidency has donated 50,000 euro to be used for this purpose.
Emphasising the fact that the Missing Persons issue is a humanitarian one, Akinci said that he was pleased with the efforts carried out to find missing persons and the new initiatives that were being taken. He also called for unnecessary accusations to come to an end.
Akinci said that all sides are working in sincere cooperation, obstacles placed in front of excavation works carried out in military areas have been removed and in order for all archives to be researched steps were taken. “This issue is just one of the bleeding wounds of the two peoples on the island; we aim to ease the pain of the people by finding all of the missing persons”, Akinci noted.
He further said that in addition to the works and projects carried out by the Missing Persons Committee, archives belonging to the TRNC, Turkey, the Greek Cypriot National Guard, Greece, the Greek Cypriot Police, the Red Crescent, the UN and the UN’s records covering the periods of 1963/1964 and 1974 will be opened.
BRT