NICOSIA, Aug 28 (AFP) - Turkish Cypriots have warned that DNA tests carried out unilaterally by rival Greek Cypriots to identify missing people from both sides of the long-divided island will be considered unreliable.
Mehmet Ali Talat, the prime minister of the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), issued the warning in an August 25 letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which was obtained by AFP on Saturday.
Three decades on, the fate of about 2,000 people listed as missing since Turkey`s invasion in 1974 remains a major sticking point that nourishes mistrust between the Turkish and Greek communities of the island.
"DNA and blood samples taken by the Greek Cypriots and test results obtained from these samples in the absence and without the participation of the relevant Turkish Cypriot members, as far as the Turkish Cypriot side is concerned, are unreliable and not conclusive," Talat said in his letter to Annan.
A joint committee has been formed between the two sides to investigate the fate of the missing, who include about 1,500 Greek Cypriots and 500 Turkish Cypriots.
Talat, however, accused the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government of monopolizing the only medical institute in the island capable of carrying out DNA tests.
The institute, stationed in the UN-manned buffer zone in the island, has been established with the help of a large US donation through the UN refugee agency UNHCR in order to serve both sides, he wrote.
"As it stands right now, this bi-communal institute is solely run by the Greek Cypriot authorities. These authorities, have reportedly, began to, in addition to the Greek Cypriots, take DNA and blood samples from the family members of the Turkish Cypriot missing persons," he said.
Talat urged the UN chief to take steps to ensure that Turkish Cypriots also participate in the administration and activities of the medical center.
"Only a truly bi-communal institute can produce reliable and uncontested data acceptable to both sides," he said.
The joint committee dealing with missing people is expected to convene in the buffer zone on Monday for the first time after a four-year impasse.
Turkey invaded the northern third of Cyprus in 1974 with the stated aim of protecting the Turkish Cypriot minority in the face of an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot military coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.