Relatives of missing persons in Cyprus have appealed to the relevant authorities to accelerate the pace of identification of remains exhumed in the ongoing process to help establish the fate of their loved ones. Nikos Theodosiou, president of the Committee of Relatives of Undeclared prisoners of war and missing persons, has told a Committee meeting that they demand better coordination and a more effective process of identification to match the pace of exhumations.

“We want to see more people working at the anthropological laboratory of the Committee on Missing Persons to speed up the process. In addition to that, we must have more teams of experts at exhumation sites,” he said. Theodosiou referred to the obstacles the Turkish military raises in this process, recalling that the army continues to deny access to what it designates as military zones.

Ankara, he said, has refused repeatedly to provide information it has about persons listed as missing, to enable investigations to take place into each and every case. He also talked about the need to improve cooperation between the forensic experts at the laboratory and those working at the Institute of Neurology and Genetics where the DNA tests are carried out.

Theodosiou said the Committee has taken its case to Brussels and Strasbourg to plead for help in this humanitarian issue. The European Parliament has appointed a new rapporteur, Maltese Simon Busuttil to deal with the matter, who has already visited Cyprus to talk to interested parties.