Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-385"
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"en.20070314.26.3-385"2
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"Mr President, the issue of the missing persons in Cyprus illustrates better than anything else the human drama that was played out on that island over thirty years ago. It is an issue for Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike and is not only about the missing persons themselves but also about their families, who are still there today.
Speaking as the coordinator of the High-level Contact Group for relations with the Turkish Cypriot community in the north of the island, I can assure the House that this is still a live issue in people’s minds and that its effects are still widely felt on the ground. I have also given notice of my intention to raise this issue, among others, at the Conference of Presidents when we present our written report to it tomorrow morning.
The issue of missing persons in Cyprus is part of the shared past that the two communities are now attempting to understand and to overcome. Although the issue is a difficult and sensitive one, a joint project has been got up and running, symbolising the desire of both communities to build a shared future.
The project to which I refer is the Committee on Missing Persons; it exists under the aegis of the United Nations, and the humanitarian work it does is crucial in terms of the help it gives to both communities as they look for some 2 000 persons who are still listed as missing.
I cannot but be very pleased about the interest shown by my fellow Members of this House in the problem of missing persons in Cyprus. I agree that political support at the highest level is indispensable to the success of this project. Work on the missing persons problem must be seen primarily as humanitarian in character, as this House has always pointed out. The project must rely on the goodwill of both communities and be a joint enterprise with, of course, the appropriate material, financial and human resources.
Since it came into being, this committee has come up against many obstacles, but it has now entered upon a new phase and has taken definite and useful action, which is what prompts me to welcome and encourage the efforts being made on both sides of the Green Line towards opening new border crossing points in various places, among them on Ledra Street in the historic heart of Nicosia.
It follows, then, that the Committee on Missing Persons is not merely symbolic, but a means of dialogue between the two communities and hence an essential contribution to the overall settlement of the Cyprus issue."@en1
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