The CMP's partners
The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF)
The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF - Equipo Argentino de Anthropologia Forense) was selected and mandated by the CMP to design, set up and initially co-ordinate the archaeological and anthropological phases of its project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in Cyprus. From the start of the project in August 2006 until the end of 2007, international forensic experts from EAAF coordinated and trained the CMP Bi-communal Forensic Team (BCFT) currently composed of over 40 Cypriot archaeologists and anthropologists.
Since the beginning of 2008, after gradually gaining in autonomy, members of the BCFT have been carrying out exhumations on their own. At the CMP anthropological laboratory however, EAAF forensic experts continued to train and coordinate the work of members of the BCFT until the end of September 2008, when the management of the laboratory became Cypriot. EAAF experts are now called twice a year for quality control purposes.
EAAF is a non-governmental, non-profit, scientific organization that applies forensic sciences - mainly forensic anthropology and archaeology- to the recovery of remains of missing persons. EAAF was established in 1984 to investigate the cases of at least 10,000 persons who went missing in Argentina during the military government that ruled from 1976-1983. Today, the team works in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe. [More]...
The international experts from EAAF in Cyprus in October 2007 (from right to left): Elvis Dzanic, Luis Fondebrider (EAAF founder and president), Andres Patino Umana, Mary Ballard-Johansson, Megane Bassendale
The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING)
The Laboratory of Forensic Genetics (LabFoG) of the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) was contracted by the CMP in April 2007 to undertake the responsibility for the Genetics Phase of its project on the Exhumation, Identification and Return of Remains of Missing Persons in Cyprus by using DNA methodologies. The LabFoG scientific team involved in the current CMP project is composed of 6 Greek Cypriot as well as 3 Turkish Cypriot scientists (the Turkish Cypriot scientists acting as visiting collaborators). Dr. Marios A. Cariolou is the founder and Director of the LabFoG, and also acts as the Greek Cypriot Scientific Advisor to the CMP, while Dr. Cemal Gürkan acts as the Turkish Cypriot Scientific Advisor to the CMP. As such, Dr. Gürkan coordinated the collection of blood specimens from the relatives of the Turkish Cypriot missing persons and the extraction of DNA from these specimens in the purpose-built Turkish Cypriot DNA Laboratory at Dr. Burhan Nalbantoğlu Hospital in Nicosia.
The CING LabFoG has been operational since 1995 and uses state of the art DNA methodologies for pursuing civil and criminal investigations, mass disaster victim identification and skeletal remains identification of missing persons. Since 1997, it has been involved in the identification of skeletal remains of missing persons in Cyprus, using DNA typing techniques, in a closely related project which is carried out in collaboration with anthropologists from the international organization, “Physicians for Human Rights”. The LabFoG is a member of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes DNA Working Group.
The CING was established in 1990 and is a bi-communal, non-profit making institution, specializing in neurology, molecular biology and all aspects of human genetics. [More]...
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot scientists of the CING Laboratory of Forensic Genetics involved in the CMP Project (Seating from left to right): Ms Gulbanu Gokbulut, Dr. Rezan Fahrioglu Yamaci, Dr. Stavroulla Xenophontos and Ms Marilena Hadjivassiliou - (Standing from left to right): Mr. Panayiotis Manoli, Mr. Michalis Mylonas, Mr. Vasilis Christofi, Dr. Cemal Gurkan and Dr. Marios Cariolou
