Greek support towards Cyprus is decisive, particularly today, with Turkey causing new tensions and challenging the sovereign rights of Cyprus and Greece in the broader Eastern Mediterranean region, Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou told the Ambassador of Greece to Cyprus, Theocharis Lalacos.
 
According to a relevant announcement, Photiou and Lalacos met on Wednesday in the framework of their “excellent and substantial cooperation” on matters pertaining to their competence.
 
The two men also discussed problems in relation to Greek Cypriot and Greek missing persons, due to Turkey’s negative stance and lack of cooperation on its part. They also talked about ways for Cyprus and Greece to cooperate in raising awareness about the problem of missing persons in international fora.
 
Another topic had to do with ways to overcome the stagnation in efforts to solve the humanitarian aspects of this tragedy, due to the pandemic.
 
Photiou noted that despite the humanitarian approach of the Greek Cypriot side, Turkey continues to pursue a negative and unacceptable approach, which is obstructing efforts to put an end to the suffering and pain the relatives of missing persons are going through for almost half a century.
 
Despite the efforts from our side, the serious problems obstructing progress are still there due to Turkish intransigence, Photiou went on. As a result, he noted, there is a dramatic decrease in discovering remains of missing persons in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus and a subsequent reduction in DNA identifications.

Photiou and Lalacos also discussed cooperation concerning the diaspora of both countries, emanating from the Memorandum of Understanding on Diaspora signed by the two countries, particularly in the framework of trilateral cooperation schemes with Israel, Egypt and Lebanon.