Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou called on Turkey to show goodwill as regards the missing persons issue in Cyprus and assume its responsibilities.

Photiou was speaking at the funeral of the remains of a man, found in October 2014 during excavations carried out by the teams of the Committee on Missing Persons, according to a press release of the Press and Information Office.

Turkey, the occupying power, bears a heavy responsibility for the fact that the issue remains open and for actions and omissions that not only delay the investigative process, but essentially they hamper it, Photiou said.

He noted that around 1000 persons are still missing with the majority of the relatives living in anguish, while many of them pass away.

Turkey`s responsibilities are unbearable and it must finally work with goodwill toward the solution of all the cases of missing persons, the Commissioner said, adding that Turkey must respond to the fair demand of the Greek Cypriot side, a demand of the European Court of Human Rights as well, to allow without any restrictions, excavations in the so called military zones in occupied Cyprus and also give access to the archives of the Turkish army that contain information for many missing persons.

Turkey must also give information on the intentional relocation of remains, an even bigger crime, he said.

With the expectation and the hope that the other side will assume its responsibilities, we will continue with the same determination the efforts to establish the fate of all the missing persons, Photiou reiterated, stressing that for the Government and the President, establishing the fate of the missing persons is a high priority.

As the President himself has recently assured, in the framework of the negotiations to solve the Cyprus issue, the issue of the missing persons had and still has a special place, and there cannot be a solution without at the same time having clear results on this humanitarian drama, he noted.