The families of three Greek soldiers, who went missing during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, have been informed this week that their remains were recently identified and they will be handed over to the next of kin during an official ceremony in Cyprus on May 25.

Their remains were found during the period January to May 2015, close to a Hellenic military force (ELDYK) camp in Agios Dometios area, a suburb of the capital Nicosia.

Greek Cypriot member of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) Nestoras Nestoros who was the head of the delegation that visited the families of the Greek soldiers in Crete, Salonica and Corfu has told CNA that during the same ceremony the remains of ten more Greek soldiers whose remains were found in Kioneli village and were identified at the end of 2016 will be handed over to their relatives during the same ceremony. Their families were informed accordingly from December 2016 to February 2017.

Meanwhile, according to Nestoros, a delegation, comprising CMP third member Paul-Herni Arni, one member of the CMP Greek Cypriot member`s office and one member of the CMP Turkish Cypriot member`s office, leaves on Sunday for New York where it will stay for two weeks, with a view to look into the UN archives and identify any information relevant to the missing persons in Cyprus.

Moreover, Nestoros noted that he and the Turkish Cypriot member of CMP Gülden Plümer Küçük will also visit New York at the beginning of May and will hold meetings with officials on the issue of missing persons in Cyprus.

He said that a multifaceted effort is underway to locate possible information in archives that could help establish the fate of missing persons and to this end CMP members are planning to visit the UK, probably at the end of June.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. A Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) was established, upon agreement between the leaders of the island’s two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning the remains of missing persons to their relatives.

July 2007 marked a turning point of historical significance as the CMP began returning the first remains of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot individuals to their families.