Brussels, Belgium. The Council of Europe’s committee of ministers called on Turkey to grant unhindered access to all areas where the remains of missing persons from Cyprus may be located and to provide all relevant information to support ongoing investigations. The decision was adopted as part of supervision of Turkey’s compliance with European human rights court judgments related to missing persons following the island’s division.
Call for access and information sharing
In its decision, the committee urged Turkey to allow full access to locations where remains may be buried and to share information required for the work of the committee on missing persons (CMP), the bicommunal body responsible for locating, exhuming and identifying victims of past conflict.
According to a statement from the foreign ministry, the committee also referred to Ankara’s recent announcement that restrictions affecting investigations in military areas would be eased.
“As the republic, we expect to see the implementation of this announcement, as well as the complete lifting of the restrictions requested by the commission,” the ministry said.
Updates requested on unresolved cases and compensation
The committee further called on Turkey to provide updates on new developments, including additional investigative efforts concerning unresolved cases linked to the Varnava judgment.
Deputies also adopted an interim resolution condemning Turkey’s refusal to pay court-ordered compensation, stating that compliance with such rulings represents an “unconditional contractual obligation”.
Supervision to continue until 2027 review
The case will remain under supervision, with the committee expected to review Turkey’s progress again in March 2027.
CMP work and excavation figures
The committee on missing persons was established in 1981 but only began systematic excavation work in 2006 after years of political deadlock.
Since then, bicommunal teams of archaeologists and scientists have conducted more than 1,700 excavations across the island, exhuming over 1,700 sets of remains.
What steps do you think are most important to support efforts to identify missing persons from Cyprus?
