Statement by Nikos Kettiros, AKEL MP and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, Enclaved Persons, Missing Persons and War-stricken Victims, following the Committee’s meeting with the European Parliament’s Rapporteur on Missing Persons in Cyprus, Isabel Santos

 

 

24 July 2023

The Parliamentary Committee on Refugees convened today in an extraordinary session since we had arranged a meeting with Isabel Santos, the European Parliament Rapporteur on the missing persons issue in Cyprus. The fact that she took office a few days ago and has visited our country with a busy schedule of meetings is something we noted and expressed our gratitude for her endeavor.

The main issues related to our missing persons and the pain of every Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot missing person, whose fate continues to be unknown, were raised before I.Santos.

We highlighted once again the responsibility of Turkey for possessing information regarding both burial sites and mass movements of remains and, at the same time, the responsibility of the European Union to exert pressure on Turkey to provide this information.

By the end of the year a resolution will be prepared and brought before the European Parliament and therefore I.Santos should have all the information on this issue before her.

We also raised the issue of the funding of the programme, which is on the one hand both essential for the functioning of the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP) and at the same time of major political importance. Following Germany’s intention to withdraw its financial support for the CMP programme, other countries may follow suit and this will create a problem for the operation of the programme. As I.Santos described it, this would also be a scandal for the EU itself too.

I must stress the excellent cooperation with the Cypriot MEP’s on this issue. We have renewed our appointment for next September to see the progress of the European Parliament’s work on the issue and the direction it will take.

Finally, Isabel Santos has conveyed to us her shock from her visit to the occupied city of Famagusta, where she saw a city with the homes of refugees as they were left, the graves of our grandparents and possibly areas where missing persons are buried being used as a tourist attraction. On our part, we asked her to raise the issue of Famagusta in her contacts with all the relevant people.