Cyprus: Turkey Must Open Military Archives on Missing Persons
Cyprus will not drop its demand for Turkey to open its military archives and reveal the fate of missing persons from the 1974 invasion, Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas said Sunday.
Speaking at a memorial service for EOKA fighter Spyros Hadjiyiakoumis at Ayia Varvara Church in Nicosia, Mousiouttas made clear that Nicosia's position on the missing remains firm. Turkey's military archives are considered critical to establishing what happened to hundreds of Cypriots who disappeared during and after the Turkish invasion 52 years ago.
"Turkey lacks the political will to move forward." — Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas
Mousiouttas said the government was working toward resuming talks from where they stalled at Crans-Montana in 2017, and insisted that nothing already agreed in that process would be surrendered. The framework Cyprus accepts is a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, in line with UN Security Council resolutions, with no occupation troops and no intervention rights for outside parties.
He flatly rejected a two-state solution, saying it would never be accepted, and refused to grant legitimacy to the partition created by the 1974 invasion. On why negotiations remain deadlocked, his answer was brief: Turkey lacks the political will to move forward.
The minister honored Hadjiyiakoumis by reminding those gathered that every day of freedom in the government-controlled areas was paid for by people who gave their lives.
The fate of missing persons from the 1974 invasion remains one of the most unresolved humanitarian issues in the Cyprus dispute. Turkey's refusal to open its military archives has long been a source of grief for families who still do not know what happened to their relatives.
