Cypriots search for remains of missing 50 years after Turkish invasion

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Since the Turkish army invaded the north of the island in 1974 due to the Greek-Cypriot revolution that wanted to unite it with Greece, the Republic of Cyprus, a member of the EU since 2004, has been divided. two parts.

The southern part of the Mediterranean island, populated mainly by Greek Cypriots, is governed by a government recognized by the UN, while the north, which calls itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, is recognized only by Ankara.

Fifty years later, thousands of people are still missing, leaving families on both sides unable to hold funerals for them and end their mourning.

The missing continue to be remembered, even as the search continues.

“We want to lose ours. It doesn’t matter if we want Greek or Turkish Cypriots. We want ours, they are all Cypriots,” says Cypriot archaeologist Ceren Çıralıoğlu at the site of just a big grave. outside Nicosia since 1974.

The Committee on the Island of Missing Persons (CMP), made up of Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as well as archaeologists, is trying to find the remains of those still missing.

Eyewitnesses said that at least 16 people were buried there at the time. Archaeologists are looking at the research, always in two: one of Greek Cypriot and one of Turkish Cypriot.

Theodora Eleftheriou, an anthropologist, says: “Archaeologists found the bones you see on these tables.

“We brought their boxes to the laboratory. Some of the bones were all together. We tried to put the bones together to make the skeleton of these four people.”

Although scientists are still struggling to identify the remains discovered in Cyprus, the Committee on Missing Persons has so far identified nearly 1,000 people, including missing civilians and soldiers, from both sides of the war.

“Sometimes only a few bones are found, and sometimes the whole body is revealed. But it often takes years before it becomes clear who that person is. If that happens, if all the pieces of the puzzle fall together and the information can happen, then it is a very important time for the family and their relatives. They can finally close the chapter,” Eleftheriou said.

But for some of our relatives, this alone may be enough.

“Like bones, he came back. But we are happy that he is finally back, and we will bury him next to our mother. We were very happy because now we are at the end of our story, “Kutlay Erk, a relative of one victim and former Cypriot mayor of North Nicosia, said Kutlay Erk.

“These are the things that Peter had in his pocket,” said one of his relatives, “Peter’s thing. Shoes.”

One country or two countries?

Cyprus has been quiet for many years, but the situation is still tense.

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The island nation gained independence from the UK in 1960, but violence sparked by Athens soon split the coalition between Greece and Turkey.

Since all three parties – the UK, Greece and Turkey – were peacekeepers on the island, Anakara was seen to protect the Turkish Cypriots, who accounted for about 18% of the population, from in the Greek army’s junta-backed coup d’etat as part of its mandate.

About 160,000 Greek Cypriots were deported to the south, and more than a third of the island was annexed by Turkey. More than 3,000 people died.

Efforts to unify Cyprus have so far failed.

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Annan’s UN-backed four-part plan to reorganize the two parts of the island into a “United Republic of Cyprus” was rejected by 75.8% of Greek Cypriots in 2004.

Just last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided not to start negotiations according to Annan’s plan.

Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking Cypriots disagree over, among other things, the island’s territorial division. While the Greek Cypriots want reunification, the Turkish Cypriots want to build two states.

Brussels accepted the entire island of Cyprus as a member of the “Big Bang” expansion in the same year despite the ongoing dispute – contrary to its policy of blocking the candidate countries from membership until they resolve the disputes of their places. The EU considers Turkey’s presence in the north an illegal occupation.

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