Cyprus-Forum.com

[Lordo]

only those with missing relatives can understand the pain being suffered. all you are doing charluimmu is to try to score some points and you will always get the response you deserve.

shove it.

i wish somebody gave me any remains of my relatives too, so i can bury them and we can all have closure.

may they all rest in peace and all those who murdered rot in hell.

[Lordo]

its as if gsc did not execute anybody before 74 or after. dohni where they lined all the men and executed all the men. atllilar murataga and sandallilar where they executed all the women children and old men and then tried to burn the evidence. where the furk all your life to try to score points making out that only gc suffered in this war. you barstuards.

[repulsewarrior]

...you don't stop this barbarism by ignoring the facts, the CMP is not looking for "Greeks", or "Turks", they are looking for the missing, Cypriots. why restrict that, why move the bones even, you don't solve the problems you raise with such disrespect, for these dead; and now, the same old mantra, "your" dead, selectively remembered for effect, to score a point or two. i don't deny your dead, i don't deny the dead, and i don't exploit them. it seems that you/"you" are looking for pity, i am looking for a better way of living. "this'' must stop.

...i suppose i would not be so interested in the affairs of Cyprus, if it was not for the tragedy my family suffers, and i know now that their lives would have no value, if it were not for the fact that they are still remembered and loved, not by their family alone but the people who they touched, as one village dweller to another. but i come from a "mixed" village, so for some on the forum, i am a thorn on their side, because more than a "Greek", i understand what it is to be Greek, and as a Citizen of the world, an example of a loving nature in this diversity. and for some, i hope i add balance to the extremes which we are so apt to express, because Cyprus is not made up of "Greeks" and "Turks" alone. i suggest that you/we all, can govern yourself/ourselves accordingly.

[Nikitas]

Sandalaris and the surrounding villages were one incident, carried out by the same band of murderers. They killed 66 people. They were in the grasp of the advancing Turks but were not arrested.

The question of guilt is irrelevant here. The issue is the removal of graves and the dumping of remains to avoid guilt for the mass killings carried out by a structured army. There is a difference even though you try hard not to see it. When an organized force carries out such acts it can only do so on orders from higher up. These were not your irregulars waging personal vendettas.

The Turkish army did not honor itself in Cyprus.

[repulsewarrior]

http://cyprus-mail.com/2014/12/18/cmp-m ... n-missing/

The CMP members stressed the importance of acquiring new knowledge on burial sites before it is too late since many people with information are of advanced age.

Arni said that over the last eight years 564 people have been identified including 93 that were not in the official missing persons list.

[Lordo]

there is only one way and it should have been done decades ago. a truth commission should have been set up to compel the murderers to speak or rot in jail. then they would sing like a bird.

[Nikitas]

Yes, a truth commission is needed, but one that will examine the deeper levels of organization that encouraged the killings and the rapes. To have any meaning this commission must examine mainlanders from both sides. And also allow hearsay evidence to cover the gaps left by those that died and took their criminal past to the grave.

First on the stand should be the commander of the 39th division of the "best in NATO" for failing to stop the massacres and the rapes, for not arresting even a single soldier in his command. His crimes are numerically far above all the rest put together, counting both sides' crimes.

[Lordo]

the purpose of the truth commission is to find all the remains so the families can find closure. surely the problem started 11 years before the 39 division set foot on the soil of cyprus. you are a typical gc who refuses to understand the problem. to you the problem started in 74. hell it did boy.

[repulsewarrior]

During a debate this morning on the case of the mass graves of the missing people of Ashia in the Ornithi village in the occupied part of Cyprus, GUE/NGL MEPs expressed the urgent need to verify the fate of the of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot missing persons.

The also added their condemnation of the Turkish government for failing to tell the truth about the whereabouts of the remains of scores of Greek (and Turkish) Cypriots who disappeared and were murdered during the Turkish invasion and bombardments of 1974. The relocation of remains of mass graves of missing persons was strongly denounced.

Cyrpriot MEP Takis Hadjigeorgiou said: "The work carried out in Cyprus by Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots for the discovery, exhumation and identification of the remains of the victims of the Cyprus tragedy is an act that honours not only the Cypriots but is an act honouring humanity."

"In contrast", he concluded, "the relocation and disappearance of remains from mass graves is an act of shame, equal to that of the victims' murder."

Irish MEP Martina Anderson evoked the many similarities between the island nations of Ireland and Cyprus that have suffered from the legacy of partition foreign occupation and conflict.

MEP Anderson said: "The need for truth and reconciliation is as important for Cyprus as it is for Ireland. But for this reconciliation to take place in Cyprus, Turkey must reveal the truth about the missing people and also regarding the further crime of the relocation of victims' remains by the Turkish authorities."

Greek MEP Kostas Chrysogonos said that the invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the occupation of 40% of the island "were major violations of international law for which Turkey has been sentenced by the European Court of Human rights on many occasions."

He added: "This huge violation has been accompanied by terrible war crimes such as the mass execution of about 1,600 Greek Cypriots and Greek prisoners. These crimes have not been acknowledged or punished but Turkey has tried to cover them up and recently even moved remains from Ashia to another region. This is shameful."

http://www.guengl.eu/news/article/gue-n ... ir-remains

...for the record; talk in Europe.

[bill cobbett]

... and also for the record, the full text of the EP Resolution of earlier this week...

"... The European Parliament,

– having regard to its resolution of 15 March 2007 on missing persons in Cyprus(1),

– having regard to the relevant reports of the United Nations Secretary-General(2), resolutions of the United Nations Security Council(3) and international initiatives taken to investigate the fate of missing persons in Cyprus(4),

– having regard to the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) of 10 May 2001(5) and 10 January 2008(6) concerning missing persons in Cyprus, and the 12 May 2014 Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Cyprus v. Turkey,

– having regard to its resolution of 18 June 2008 on missing persons in Cyprus(7),

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A6-0139/2008),

– having regard to its declaration of 9 June 2011 on the work of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus,

– having regard to the international humanitarian law, both conventional and customary, on missing persons,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Turkey,

– having regard to Rules 135(5) and 123(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas on 14 August 1974 the village of Ashia was bombarded by Turkish air forces; whereas on 21 August enforced mass evacuations were conducted by the Turkish army; whereas final expulsion of all the inhabitants of the village took place on 28 August;

B. whereas, in total, 106 individuals from the village of Ashia, aged between 11 and 84, went missing in 1974;

C. whereas in the spring of 2009, the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) conducted a search in the Ornithi area, a village situated 4 km west of the village of Ashia; whereas four burial sites were disinterred, two of which were water wells and the sites of mass graves,; whereas it has been confirmed that the remains, identified by DNA testing, belong to the list of 71 civilians who went missing in Ashia on 21 August 1974, as stated above;

D. whereas evidence suggests that that the two mass graves had been previously exhumed; whereas the remains were intentionally removed and transferred to unknown locations;

E. whereas the great agony and suffering of the families of the missing persons, who have remained ignorant of the fate of their beloved relatives for decades, still continues, and whereas all efforts must therefore be made to expedite the investigations by the CMP;

F. whereas the European Court of Human Rights held that there had been, with regard to Greek‑Cypriot missing persons and their relatives: a continuing violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the Convention concerning the failure of the Turkish authorities to conduct an effective investigation into the whereabouts and fate of Greek‑Cypriot missing persons who disappeared in life-threatening circumstances; a continuing violation of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) concerning the failure of Turkey to conduct an effective investigation into the whereabouts and fate of the Greek-Cypriot missing persons in respect of whom there was an arguable claim that they were in Turkish custody at the time of their disappearance; and a continuing violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) in that the silence of the Turkish authorities in the face of the real concerns of the relatives attained a level of severity which could only be categorised as inhuman treatment;

G. whereas the cases, where only partial skeletal remains of persons can be handed over for burial, cannot be considered as closed until all the identifiable remains of all the missing persons have been discovered;

H. whereas the European Court of Human Rights has ruled on the responsibility of Turkey, as the de facto occupying force in the northern part of Cyprus, to investigate the whereabouts and fates of those missing and facilitate the work of the CMP;

I. whereas the problem of missing persons is a humanitarian one deriving from the right of the relatives of missing persons to know their fate;

J. whereas the ordeal of missing persons in Cyprus began in 1964, with a limited number of missing persons from both communities, and reached its peak with nearly 2 000 missing persons following the military invasion by Turkey in 1974, which still keeps the island divided;

K. whereas a total of 2 001 Cypriots have remained missing for several decades now, of whom 1 508 are Greek Cypriots and 493 Turkish Cypriots;

1. Condemns the relocation that took place in Ornithi, and similar actions, as a great disrespect to the missing persons and a gross violation of the rights of their families to finally know the real conditions of the deaths of their loved ones; expresses its sympathy with the families of all missing people who are still living in uncertainty;

2. Underlines that relocation of remains and similar acts could represent a major disruption and complication for the challenging and difficult process of investigating the fate of all missing persons in Cyprus;

3. Highlights the urgency of the matter as regards the families of the missing persons, 41 years after their disappearances, and stresses that time is running out to find them as witnesses and relatives are passing away; calls for the immediate and complete verification of the fate of the missing persons;

4. Commends the work of the CMP and highlights the importance of intensifying its activities, as half of all the missing persons have yet to be located and more than two-thirds have yet to be identified;

5. Stresses that the work of the CMP depends on the full support and cooperation of all the parties involved and welcomes, in this regard, the funds provided by the EU and calls for their continued provision;

6. Notes that the CMP has made an urgent call for anyone with information on possible burial sites to contact CMP investigators; calls on Turkey and its government to immediately cease removal of the remains from the mass graves and to comply with international law, international humanitarian law and the ECHR judgments, and facilitate to that effect the efforts of the three-part Committee on Missing Persons by giving full access to military archives and military zones for exhumation; calls on Turkey to fully implement its obligation following the decision of the ECHR to compensate the families of the missing persons;

7. Calls on Turkey to allow without deliberate delay access to zones that have been defined as military and there is information that burial sites of missing persons are located within them; underlines that the Turkish military should supply and share old military maps and give full access to its archives in order to facilitate the search for still undisclosed burial grounds;

8. Urges all EU Member States to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, as a matter of priority, and calls on the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Member States to support the work of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, established under this Convention;

9. Reminds all parties concerned and all those who have, or are in a position to have, any information or evidence emanating from personal knowledge, archives, battlefield reports or records of detention places, to pass it on to the CMP without further delay;

10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Government and Parliament of Turkey, and recalls the unconditional obligation of every state, under the European Convention on Human Rights, to abide by final judgments in cases to which it has been a party...."