Bucking 25-year deal, Greek Cypriot side 'politicizing' issue of missing persons: Official

By Mehmet Kemal Firik

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - The Greek Cypriot administration is politicizing the issue of individuals who have gone missing since the violence that accompanied the coup of 1974, which prompted Türkiye's peace operation on the island, a Turkish Cypriot representative with the UN said on Thursday.

With a recent decision to declare Oct. 29 the Day of Missing Persons in Cyprus, the Greek Cypriot side defied a 1997 agreement with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) that the matter "should not be used as a political tool and exploited," Hakki Muftizade, a member of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, told Anadolu Agency.

"This is also in the job description of the committee members. I'll suffice to say, we want this issue not to be abused politically. This issue should not be politicized." said Muftizade, who represents Turkish Cypriots at the bi-communal committee established by the sides in 1981 with UN participation.

Muftizade underlined that with the decision, condemned by the TRNC, the Greek Cypriot administration had failed to show the necessary sensitivity on such a humanitarian matter.

- Decades-long dispute

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece, and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara