Presidential Commissioner Fotis Fotiou has said that he has received pieces of information concerning additional cases of relocation of remains that belonged to missing persons in Cyprus’ occupied areas, he said however that he was not able to confirm the story.

Asked by the Cyprus News Agency to comment on a Turkish document sent recently to the Council of Europe`s Committee of Ministers, ahead of the body`s session in March to discuss the issue of missing persons, Fotiou said the claims contained in it were “ludicrous” and a “provocation”.

The document distributed at the request of the Turkish government asks the Greek Cypriot side to demonstrate a “proactive approach” and grant permission to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) for exhumations in military areas in the “South”, as it calls the areas of the Republic of Cyprus that are not under Turkish occupation.

It also refers to the relocation of remains, noting that this is “not a concern of the present but an event of the past as the alleged relocations took place in 1990s”.

“From the information we have gathered, it seems that more relocations have taken place. I hope this is not true,” Fotiou told CNA, without naming the source.

“Move to whitewash Turkey”
——————————-
Ankara has recently granted access to 30 “military areas” in the Turkish-occupied areas of Cyprus, for excavations by the CMP in the next three years.

According to Fotiou, Turkey aims to take advantage of this move, while its reference in the document, for access in military areas, aims to whitewash the Turkish occupation army from its responsibilities.

He said that in contrast to Turkey, “we do whatever is possible to determine the fate of Turkish Cypriot missing persons”.

Moreover, he went on to say that never in the past 40 years has Turkey ever circulated a single document, nor has it ever presented the slightest piece of information regarding missing persons in military areas under the control of the Republic of Cyprus.

Moreover, he wondered about the purpose of bringing up this issue, ahead of the Strasbourg meeting, in March.

He said finally that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus is ready for this “diplomatic battle” in Strasbourg and appeared confident that “we shall win, because right is on our side”.

He said finally that vast number of missing persons remains unaccounted, with Turkey still barring access to its military archives.