Progress has been made in the missing persons` issue, however we are not satisfied with the results of the work carried out by the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Issues and Overseas Cypriots Photis Photiou has said.

Delivering a speech at the funeral of missing Chrysostomos Kazamias, who was shot dead by the Turks, during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and his remains were recently identified, Photiou said that there is a great number of cases of missing persons which have not been examined yet and that there have been serious problems which need to be overcome.

The Commissioner called on Turkey to cooperate, to allow excavations in the so called military zones in Cyprus` occupied areas and provide access to archives of the Turkish army.

Referring to cases of relocation and dispersion of remains of missing persons, Photiou pointed out that Turkey is responsible and needs to
cooperate on this issue as well.

He added that the relatives of the missing persons have the fundamental human right to learn about the fate of their loves ones and that the truth cannot be hidden any longer.

Referring to the Cyprus problem, Photiou expressed hope that after the selection of Mustafa Akinci by the Turkish Cypriots to be their new leader and with the contribution of Ankara in the peace talks, prospects that will allow the reunification of the country, will be created.

The list of missing persons includes 1,508 Greek Cypriots, forty three of whom went missing between `63-`64 when intercommunal violence broke out in Cyprus. The list also includes 493 Turkish Cypriots, 229 of whom are thought to have been lost during the period 1963-1967.

Two hundred sixty four Turkish Cypriots went missing during the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island and there have been some reports that 126 of them were lost in the areas of Aloa-Maratha-Sandalari.

So far 435 identifications of Greek Cypriots have been carried out and 138 of Turkish Cypriots. Approximately 200 cases are in the stage of anthropological or genetic analysis, 100 Greek Cypriot  missing cannot be identified and the remains of 800 missing persons are still to be located.

In most of the cases (99%) the families of the missing persons have given DNA for the appropriate analysis.

CMP is funded mainly by the EU. The total budget including funding from international donors is around three million euros annually.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third. Since then, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown.

The CMP was established upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning the remains of missing persons to their relatives.