Cyprus Missing Persons’ Day: Relatives have every right to know the fate of their loved ones

 

Statement by the General Secretary of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, during his visit to the Committee of Missing Person’s anthropological laboratory

29 October 2021, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

On the occasion of the Cyprus Missing Persons’ Day, we visited the anthropological workshop of the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP). Very important work is being carried out here by both communities to locate and identify remains and in this way to provide the necessary information to the relatives of the missing persons.

The problem of the missing persons is a profoundly humanitarian issue which must be approached and addressed. We should seek to resolve it outside and beyond any political development in relation to the Cyprus problem.

The relatives of the missing persons have every right to know what has happened to their loved ones and we must continue the effort so that information can be provided and the fate of each and every Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot missing person can be verified. As the programme progresses, more information is provided and at the same time we keep alive the hope that eventually the necessary information will be given to all the relatives of the missing persons.

We expressed our congratulations to the protagonists of this effort in the anthropological laboratory. As AKEL we have always supported every demand that exists, with the aim of assisting this effort. We shall continue to do so, both inside and outside Parliament.

At the same time, on the occasion of today’s important day, we want to express our support towards the relatives of the missing persons. We acknowledge and share their pain and we reiterate our readiness and our will to continue the efforts for the necessary information to be provided and to let the relatives of the missing at long last know what has become of their loved ones.