Liz McManus
Ceist:16 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the initiative, if any, he will consider to try and help establish the fate of the 1,619 people still missing following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. [4360/99]
Written Answers. - Missing Persons.
The question of missing persons is one of the important and sensitive issues which will have to be addressed in the context of the search for an overall political solution to the Cyprus question. In July 1981, a Committee on Missing Persons was established, comprising a representative of each of the two communities on the island and a representative appointed by the UN Secretary General. However, progress proved difficult to achieve.
In April 1996 on the occasion of the retirement of his representative on the committee, the Secretary General wrote to the leaders of the two communities requesting a reaffirmation of their commitment to making progress on the issue, before the appointment of a new representative. He set out a number of proposals to which he sought their agreement, concerning the definition of categories of cases, the sequence in which investigations would be carried out and the question of cases without known witnesses. Although both sides informed the Secretary General that they agreed with his proposals, the tasks involved remain to be fully implemented by them. However, in June 1998 the Secretary General appointed Mr. Jean Pierre Ritter as his new representative on the Committee of Missing Persons. The first meeting of the newly reconstituted committee was held on 28 January this year.
A related but separate development took place in July 1997, when the leaders of the two communities reached bilateral agreement regarding the exchange of information on the location of the graves of missing persons and the return of their remains. Information concerning a number of missing persons is understood to have been subsequently exchanged by both sides. Agreement was also reached that each side would proceed at the technical level to acquire the necessary expertise to carry out identification. However, at a bilateral meeting in April 1998 between the two sides at which the Secretary General's Deputy Special Representative was present, the Turkish Cypriot side indicated that it was not prepared to discuss arrangements for the exhumation and return of remains until the Greek Cypriot side agreed to first look into the fate of Greek Cypriot victims of the coup detat against Archbishop Makarios in 1974. The Turkish Cypriot side claimed that victims of the coup detat were among those listed as missing. The United Nations has indicated it considers the Turkish Cypriot request as falling outside the terms of the 1997 bilateral agreement between both sides. The Greek Cypriot authorities is understood to have since decided to begin exhumation and identification of the remains located in graves in the area under its control.
I continue to be concerned at the failure to achieve substantive progress on this important matter. I have no doubt that the issue of missing persons will be among the matters raised during the confidential contacts, which are currently taking place between the leaders of the two communities and the Secretary General's Deputy Special Representative, Dame Anne Hercus, in the search for an overall political solution to the Cyprus question. For Ireland's part, we will continue to urge both communities to make every effort to achieve progress on the matter and we have made clear to the United Nations that we stand ready to provide any assistance which they consider could be helpful in this regard.