The remains of two, believed to be, Greek Cypriots were found today at a site where the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) began conducting excavations, an area next to the village of Livadia located in Karpas Peninsula in the Turkish occupied area of Cyprus, Greek Cypriot member of CMP, Nestoras Nestoros has told CNA.

“Based on the first findings it appears that we are talking about the remains of two persons” he added.

In 2012 excavations were conducted at the same site, without any result then, as he mentioned. What follows now is to demarcate the spot where the remains were detected and the cleaning of the area in an effort to establish if more remains of missing persons can be detected there. The remains of the two Greek Cypriots were found 2.5 meters under ground, Nestoros concluded.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. As a result of the invasion, hundreds of Greek Cypriots were listed as missing, most of whom soldiers or reservists, who were captured in the battlefield. Turkish Cypriots are also listed as missing.

The CMP was established in the early 1980s, upon agreement between the leaders of the island`s two communities, with a view to exhuming, identifying and returning the remains of missing persons to their relatives.

CNA/RP/GCH 2016

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY