President Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday (2 July) received European Parliament’s High Level Contact Group for Relations with Turkish Cypriots headed by Mechtild Rothe.

During the meeting, the latest developments regarding the Cyprus problem were discussed.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Turgay Avcý, Presidential Undersecretary Rasit Pertev and Turkish Cypriot observer member in the European Parliament and Nicosia MP from National Unity Party (UBP) Hasan Tacoy as well as some high ranking bureaucrats were present in the meeting.

Autonomous Missing Persons Committee, which has been carrying out exhumation and identity identification studies for Turkish and Greek Cypriot missing persons in Cyprus, will soon deliver the remains of 13 Turkish Cypriots and 15 Greek Cypriots, whose identities have been identified, to their families.

According to the written statement issued by the Autonomous Missing Persons Committee, remains of 28 missing persons were identified at the Cyprus Neurology Institute Forensic Genetics Laboratory and Genetics and Anthropology Laboratory.

The statement pointed out that all the preparations would be made to deliver the remains of missing persons to their families, who would be informed directly by the Missing Persons Committee.

Delivery dates of the remains would be determined upon the request of the families of the missing.

Committee’s Turkish Cypriot members starting from today will contact with the families of the missing persons and the places, where the remains of missing persons will be buried, will be decided by their families.

According to the official records, there exist 1970 missing persons, 502 Turkish Cypriots and 1468 Greek Cypriots, who went missing as the result of inter-communal conflicts and wars since 1960.

Within the framework of the Autonomous Missing Persons Committee’s study program, remains belonging to 300 missing persons were found as a result of 2.5 year-long exhumation work.