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The Head of Humanitarian Affairs for Missing and Trapped Persons Ms Anna Aristotelous met with the Director of the Hellenic American Institute (AHIF) Mr. Mr. Alexander Christofor, Director of the Legal Department, and a delegation of AHIF students from American colleges/universities as part of their educational visit to Cyprus.
Ms. Aristotelous presented the issues and the tragic aspects of the missing persons, the fallen, the victims, the stranded, and the tragic consequences of the Turkish invasion for the relatives of the missing, which, unfortunately, continues to cause pain and suffering to hundreds of families of our compatriots, since they have been deprived of the right to the truth about the fate of their loved ones for half a century. He also made particular reference to highlighting unseen aspects of the Cypriot tragedy, such as women and children.
He reiterated the keen interest of President Nicos Christodoulides in these issues and in particular the efforts to collect information, excavate and resolve the humanitarian issue of the missing persons.
Ms. Aristotelous made specific references to the cases of five missing Greek-Americans whose fate was unknown after the Turkish invasion, with three of them now on the list of the dead, since their remains have been identified, while the other two remain missing. It should be noted that for one of them very few remains have been found and we are still searching for the burial site after their deliberate removal by the occupying army.
He also referred to the difficulties and problems in locating missing persons, a purely humanitarian issue due to Turkish intransigence. He noted that the disappearance of every person, whose fate is still unknown, constitutes multiple violations of basic and fundamental human rights, not only for the missing person, but also for his or her relatives, perpetuating their suffering, grief, mental anguish and utter misery, for the fate of their loved ones, and the discovery of the truth.
The serious violations of the human rights of the missing persons and their families are also recorded in the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the cases of Cyprus against Turkey, as well as in the relevant reports of the Secretary General and the Resolutions of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, the Resolution of 18 June 2008 on missing persons in Cyprus, the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A6-0139/2008), international humanitarian law, both conventional and customary, on missing persons, as well as other resolutions on missing persons.
He made special reference to the interned and resettled persons who chose to remain in our occupied villages despite the adversities, problems and restrictions imposed by the occupying regime. He explained the actions taken to enhance residency and resettlement in our occupied villages, the recent amendment of the Resettlement Plan, the recent facilitation of the passage of students and elderly patients through the St. Dometios barrier, and the educational programs, the actions and activities developed for the trapped and resettled children, young and old, the partnerships with Universities, and the continuous support to our trapped people to solve the problems they face in their daily life in the framework of the human-centered approach.
Finally, Ms. Aristotelous stressed the importance of the role of the students and their professors as ambassadors of our country in the USA and congratulated them for their action in the field of enlightenment on the Cyprus problem and in mobilizing the international community to address the issue of the missing persons.
Mr. Larigakis expressed his appreciation and support for the actions for the identification of the missing persons of the Turkish invasion as well as for the strengthening and upgrading of the living conditions of the stranded and resettled people. He also said they would continue actions to enlighten and inform the international community through the Hellenic American Institute (AHIF) and the College Student Foreign Policy Study program to enable students to better advocate these issues in their colleges, businesses and workplace.
(PM/EP)
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