Project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons
July 2007 marked a turning point of historical significance: the CMP began returning the first remains of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot individuals to their families. These individuals had been missing since the tragic events of 1963-64 and 1974.
The primary objective of this project is to enable relatives of missing persons to recover the remains of their loved ones, arrange for a proper burial and close a long period of anguish and uncertainty. Most Cypriot families have been directly or indirectly affected and it is hoped that the healing of old wounds will in turn favour the overall process of reconciliation between both communities. To this end, the project is of a bi-communal nature with teams of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot scientists involved at every stage of the exhumation and identification processes.
The project includes an Archaeological Phase (Phase I), related to the exhumation of the remains of missing persons, an Anthropological Phase (Phase II), related to the analysis of the recovered remains in the CMP anthropological laboratory, and a Genetic Phase (Phase III), related to the DNA identification process. Lastly, the Return of Remains (Phase IV) aims to help the families of both communities cope with the difficult task of coming to terms with their loss.
Download related Documents
- CMP Fact Sheet (April 2012) - file format 'PDF' (18 Kb)
