Cypriots lay to rest ghosts of the disappeared

Cyprus/Chipre
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Mustafa Tolga recognised his elder brother's remains from the shape of his skull and a damaged tooth.

The retired Turkish Cypriot official wept after describing how family members went to a United Nations facility at the former Nicosia airport last year to view the remains.

"I didn't cry when Ozman went missing, but when I saw his bones laid out on a white cloth on a laboratory table I was overcome with grief," said Mr Tolga.

His brother, a farmer, was taken prisoner by Greek Cypriots during a skirmish on July 20 1974, a few hours after Turkish troops invaded Cyprus in the wake of a coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.


A total of 1,468 Greek Cypriots and 502 Turkish Cypriots are listed as having disappeared between 1963 - when inter-communal violence erupted - and 1974.

Resolving the issue of the disappeared became a priority after 2003, when a holiday-home construction boom began on the divided island, threatening to obliterate the sites of several mass graves.

A UN-backed effort to locate, exhume, identify and return the remains of the missing to their families was launched 18 months ago, with the support of Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders.

Retired police officers working under the auspices of a missing persons committee, comprising a UN official and members of the two communities, have tried to locate the mass graves. The project has so far exhumed the remains of almost 400 people and identified more than 80.Financed by the European Union and bilateral donors, it is modelled on an Argentinian practice developed in the search for thousands who disappeared in that country's so-called dirty war from 1976-83.

Christophe Girod, the UN-appointed member of the committee, said it aimed to provide closure for families unable to accept that a missing relative would never return. "It is a humanitarian project with a limited mandate. It's about identification - not finding out the cause of death," said Mr Girod.

Ozman Tolga's remains, and those of another 12 people missing from the same village, were found in a mass grave in the Greek Cypriot south. They were reburied last December in the Turkish Cypriot north.

The chances of finding all the missing are slim, according to Oran Finegan, an Irish forensic anthropologist.

"In this kind of project, you've done well if you can find and identify more than 60-70 per cent of the disappeared," he said.

Last month, the missing persons committee opened a new building, where relatives are invited to view the remains.

Elias Georgiades, the Greek Cypriot member of the committee, said the family viewing facility was a place where the process of acceptance - and perhaps reconciliation - could start.

"The first reaction is to get angry and demand explanations: these disappearances have shaped family lives for a generation," he said. "But in the end, people almost always express their gratitude to the forensic team."

This has been the only bi-communal project to make headway so far, although others are expected to be launched soon. Demetris Christofias, the new Greek Cypriot president, and Mehmet Ali Talat, the Turkish Cypriot leader, have agreed to promote confidence-building measures.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8cd4b8c2-fad6-11dc-aa46-000077b07658.html


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This page contains a single entry by Marga Lacabe published on 27 de Marzo 2008 7:24 AM.

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