President Michael D Higgins has praised efforts in Cyprus to recover, identify and return to their families the remains of more than 2,000 people who went missing during inter-communal and military conflict on the island in the 1960s and 1970s.
In total, 2,003 people went missing during the inter-communal fighting between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in 1963/64 and the events which followed Turkey's invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
The Committee on Missing Persons was established in 1981 by agreement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in an effort to offer closure for families of those lost.
So far, the remains of 1,214 people have been exhumed (492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,511 Greek Cypriots), and 956 have been identified.
Today, President Higgins visited the CMP laboratories in the UN-controlled Buffer Zone, where forensic scientists attempt to identify the remains of those recovered.
"I think what has been achieved, to have recovered 1,200 individuals and for almost a thousand families, to have restored to them their loved ones, it doesn’t wipe out what happened. But what it does is it enables the darkness to lift a little."
The Irish Government has provided a total contribution of €350,000 to the CMP (via the Stability Fund) since 2006.
"I'm so glad that the Irish Government is contributing to this important work here in Cyprus. I don’t think we could be contributing to anything more important than assisting the use of very fine young people trained in forensics and the sciences, who are analysing very difficult remains, and all about relieving the burden of the unanswered questions."
The CMP adopts a bi-communal approach, with two members appointed by the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities respectively and a third member selected by the International Committee of the Red Cross and appointed by the United Nations Secretary General.
The CMP also employs a bi-communal forensic team of more than 60 Cypriot archaeologists, anthropologists and geneticists, who conduct excavations throughout the island and anthropological and genetic analyses of remains at the CMP Anthropological Laboratory.
The CMP does not attempt to establish the cause of death or attribute responsibility for the death of missing persons.
Its objective is a humanitarian one, bringing closure to thousands of affected families through the return of the remains of their missing relatives.
President Higgins, accompanied by his wife Sabina, is paying a three-day state visit to Cyprus.
The President is joined by Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan.
