The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) relies on donor support to implement its bi-communal project that alleviates the suffering of the concerned families, it said in a press release after having received a donation of pound 175,000 from the Republic of Cyprus. According to CMP, this contribution brings the Republic of Cyprus' financial assistance to the CMP to a total of pound 3,712,700 since 2005. The CMP was established in 1981 by an agreement between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot leaders, under the auspices of the United Nations. The CMP Project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in Cyprus became operational in 2006 and is co-funded by the European Union. In 2023, CMP says, these funds will support the CMP with its goal to identify and return the remains of missing individuals and to bring to an end the uncertainty which has affected the families for so many years. So far, it notes, 1,033 missing persons from both Cypriot communities have been identified and returned to their families for dignified burials. CMP relies on donor support to implement its bi-communal project that alleviates the suffering of the concerned families, the press release 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.
Source: Cyprus News Agency