This is for Gabira
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=44475
Greek Cypriot missing family buried after 35 years
By Anna Hassapi
EIGHT members of a Greek Cypriot family from Palaikythro, missing since 1974, were finally buried on Sunday at Plati Aglandjia following a funeral service at the Apostolos Andreas church.
The bodies, found in a mass grave together with other Greek Cypriot civilians killed during the Turkish invasion were identified through the DNA.
“It’s been 35 years that you have been away. But you are always in our minds, hearts and spirits. For us, your surviving children, our dear mother and sisters, it is as if these years have not passed,” said George Liasis who was present when his family was killed in cold blood in 1974.
George, who was 15 at the time, witnessed the murder of his grandparents Ioannis and Christina Michael, his mother Margarita Liasi, his uncle Michalis Michael, as well as his sisters and cousins.
The eight members of the Liasis family were among 22 people murdered in the village of Palaikythro by a group of Turkish Cypriots vigilantes during the second round of the invasion in August 1974.
The bodies were buried in a mass grave together with 14 other murdered Greek Cypriot women, children and elderly people.
The bodies were recovered through the joint exhumation process under the umbrella of the Committee for Missing Persons (CMP).
“We have come here after such a long period of time following the efforts of the CMP and our friend, Turkish Cypriot journalist Sevgul Uludag, as well as others, who helped uncover the mass graves that led to your return,” Liasis said during his speech at his family’s funeral.
Interior Minister Neoclos Sylikiotis said: “It is very important that the relatives of the missing establish the fate of their loved ones, because the problem of the missing people is independent of the Cyprus problem and its developments.
“It is a humanitarian issue, and the relatives’ right to know what happened to their loved ones is upheld by international conventions and agreements.”
“The decision of the European Court of Human Rights indicates the responsibility Turkey has to help the full investigation into the conditions under which the missing disappeared,” Sylikiotis added.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
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