The new British Minister for Europe's first reference to an aspect of the Cyprus issue comes in response to communications with him by the pro-Cypriot Conservative MP for North London, Theresa Villiers, who had also forwarded a letter from the British Cypriot Council.
Heaton-Harris points to the "important work" done by the CMP and its contribution to bringing closure to the drama for the families affected.
He states that he is following this work "with interest" and notes the meeting his predecessor Wendy Morton had with Presidential Commissioner Fotis Fotiou in September to discuss this very sensitive issue of missing persons.
He adds that the British government shares the concerns of both communities in Cyprus about missing persons and notes the decline in recent years in the percentage of sites confirmed to contain missing persons' remains and that the work of the CMP has become more difficult over the years.
From this, according to the British Secretary of State, the importance of full cooperation from all sides emerges and on this he points to the call from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Turkey for continued assistance to the ICRC in order to produce tangible results. This assistance should take the form of unhindered access to all possible burial sites, the provision of information from relevant archives and the achievement of progress in the investigations, says Mr Heaton-Harris.
The British Minister for Europe also stresses that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has insisted that Turkey has an unconditional obligation to pay the fair compensation awarded by the ECHR for the suffering of the families of the missing persons.
"The UK is actively contributing to the discussions of the Committee of Ministers and fully supports its decisions. We will continue to urge full cooperation in this context," concludes the letter from Chris Heaton-Harris to Theresa Villiers.
[BB]Source: CNA
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