CMP announces €2.6 million contribution by the EU

The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) expressed in a statement on Monday its deep appreciation to the European Union (EU) for its financial contribution of €2.6 million.

According to the Committee, the funds will support the Committee’s goal of identifying and returning the remains of missing individuals in 2025, bringing to an end the uncertainty which has affected the families for so many years.

As stated, CMP was established in 1981 by an agreement between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot leaders, under the auspices of the United Nations, while the CMP Project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in Cyprus became operational in 2006.

It is further noted that European Union is co-funding the Committee’s project and has been the largest financial contributor, with a total support of €41.1 million since 2007.

So far, 1,051 missing persons from both Cypriot communities have been identified and returned to their families for dignified burials, the statement concludes.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Since then, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown.

A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning to their relatives the remains of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Greek Cypriots, who went missing during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-1964 and in 1974.

According to statistical data published on the CMP website by november 30, 2024 out of 2002 missing persons 1,688 were exhumed and 1,051 were identified. Out of 1510 Greek Cypriot missing persons 756 were identified and 754 are still missing. Out of 492 Turkish Cypriot missing persons 295 were identified and 197 are still missing.