LEFKOSA - Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus convened for its second meeting in the buffer zone in Lefkosa on Friday.
The Committee, which was formed to trace the whereabouts of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot missing persons, held its first meeting also in the buffer zone on August 30th, after four years of interval.
Rustem Tatar is representing Turkish Cypriot side, Ilia Georgiadis is representing Greek Cypriot side and Pier Couperan is representing the U.N. in the meeting.
The aim of the committee is to conclude researches and to close the files regarding missing persons.
The committee decided to ask the ICRC-International Committee of Red Cross in Geneva to submit the list of forensic science experts. Thus, these experts can make some recommendations to Turkish and Greek Cypriot people regarding the opening of graves under an agreement signed by President Rauf Denktas of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and (then) Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides, on July 31st, 1997.
Turkish Cypriot side wants the Genetic Institute where DNA tests will be performed on the bodies of the missing persons, and which is based in the Greek Cypriot sector of the island, to be re-organized to gain a bi-communal structure. If this institute is not restructured, Turkish Cypriot side requests that DNA tests be made in Turkey.
(BRC-ULG) 03.09.2004