The decision in the case of Varnava and Others v Turkey was taken by six votes to one in favour of nine Greek Cypriots applicants, including the families of those missing.

No compensation was awarded in the judgement, but the applicants were granted 4,000 euros each for expenses.

Turkey's silence over the fate of hundreds of Greek Cypriot missing was also deemed an inhumane act and in violation of the convention.

Turkey has long said that all those declared missing from when it invaded the island's northern third in 1974 should be presumed dead.

'What's really important is that the court rejected presumption of death, held Turkey accountable and said relatives have a right to know what happened,' lawyer for the applicants Achilleas Demetriades told reporters in Nicosia.

A total of 1,468 Greek Cypriots and 502 Turkish Cypriots are still listed as missing from intercommunal violence in 1963-1964 and the Turkish invasion that split the Mediterranean island.

Last year, for the first time in decades, families on both sides of the Cyprus divide received the remains of missing relatives after they were formally identified under a UN-led scheme that continues to exhume bodies from multiple grave sites.

Lawyers said that exhuming bodies and identifying them was 'not enough' as every relative had the right to know what happened to their loved ones before they disappeared or were found years later buried in a ditch.