Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has called upon everyone who has information on missing persons to give them to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) so that this tragic aspect of the Cyprus problem comes to an end the soonest possible.

In a written statement on the occasion of the 29th Marathon of Love for Missing Persons, Anastasiades expressed once again his unequivocal support and appreciation towards the families of missing persons, that have been anxiously waiting for decades to be informed about the fate of their beloved persons.

“The huge humanitarian issue of missing persons consti8tutes both for me personally and my government an issue of high priority and I want to assure that our efforts aiming at establishing the fate of missing persons will be continuous and persistent,” he noted.

He also welcomed the work being done by all those engaged in the issue of missing persons, assuring them that the government will continue to offer every possible support to their work.

As a result of the Turkish invasion, 1,619 Greek Cypriots were listed as missing, most of whom soldiers or reservists, who were captured in the battlefield.

Many of those missing were last seen alive in the hands of the Turkish military. A further 41 more cases of Greek Cypriot missing persons have been recently added. These cases concern the period between 1963-1964, when inter-communal fighting broke out but none of them has been identified yet. The number of Turkish Cypriot missing since 1974 and 1963/64 stood at 503.

A total of 1073 remains have been exhumed by the CMP, 491 of which have been identified with the DNA method (366 Greek Cypriots and 125 Turkish Cypriots).