NICOSIA, Aug 30 (AFP) - A UN-led committee set up to determine the fate of hundreds of Greek and Turkish Cypriot missing people met Monday for the first time in five years and appealed for help from the Red Cross to settle the emotionally-charged issue.
Three decades on, the fate of about 2,000 people listed as missing since Turkey's invasion of Cyprus in 1974 remains a major sticking point that feeds mistrust between the divided island's Turkish and Greek communities.
The tripartite Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) ended its long hiatus after Turkish Cypriot authorities last week agreed to resuscitate the near-moribund body that has failed to bring closure to the humanitarian issue since its inception more than 20 years ago.
"I certainly hope that with this fresh start, a new spirit of cooperation is demonstrated by all involved to finally end the suffering of relatives in both communities," said Greek Cypriot representative Elias Georgiades.
A statement released after the three-hour meeting -- the first since November 1999 -- said both Georgiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Rustem Tatar "reaffirmed their total commitment" to resolve the issue.
The meeting was called after prompting by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who drew up a plan aimed at reuniting Cyprus that failed after being rejected in April by Greek Cypriots although their Turkish Cypriots neighbours gave it their blessing.
There are 1,586 Greek Cypriots officially listed as missing since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the island in response to an Athens-backed coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.
Another 500 Turkish Cypriots are listed as missing since 1964 when intercommunal strife broke out on the eastern Mediterranean island.
The committee asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to recommend forensic experts who would carry out exhumation work on grave sites on either side of the island believed to contain the remains of the missing.
Mehmet Ali Talat, the prime minister of the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), had last week warned that DNA tests carried out unilaterally by Greek Cypriots would be considered unreliable.
George Iacovou, foreign minister with the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government, dismissed the Turkish Cypriot decision to revive the committee as a ploy.
"The Turkish Cypriot change of heart after years of dithering is a diplomatic ploy to get Turkey off the hook with Europe as the country strives for EU membership," he told state television.
The European Court of Human Rights has found Turkey guilty of violating the rights of relatives by refusing to account for the missing persons last seen alive in the custody of Turkish soldiers.
The missing persons committee, led by a Swiss UN diplomat, is next scheduled to meet on Friday.