Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-380"
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"en.20070314.26.3-380"2
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"Mr President, I wish first of all to thank the chairmen of the political groups who included the humanitarian issue of missing persons in Cyprus as an extraordinary item on plenary's agenda and all the political groups which signed the motion in question, which is expected to be passed tomorrow. My special thanks also to Mrs Rothe, Mr Guardans, Mr Lagendijk and Mrs Kaufmann, who have supported my proposal to debate the question and issue the relevant resolution from the outset.
Ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, today we are debating a purely humanitarian issue: the issue of the missing persons. We are not debating the Cyprus question this evening. We are not debating the problem of the military occupation of Cyprus by Turkey. We are not politicising the issue. We are debating a human tragedy; the tragedy of our missing fellow human beings. More than 2 000 people are entered on the register of missing persons, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots and others. More or less equal numbers of families, some of which have two or three missing persons, have been living for decades with the anxiety and pain of the loss of their loved ones. The time has finally come for them to find out – and they have the inalienable right to find out, as the Commissioner said – if their loved ones are dead or alive and, if they are dead, where they are buried. The time has come for all parties involved to put political expediencies, fears and guilt to one side and to cooperate with the Committee on Missing Persons.
Turkey in particular is called upon to give the information and data in its possession to the committee, to comply with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights. However, the time has come for the European Union to also take on an active role. The resolution which is expected to be approved tomorrow renews the involvement of the Commission and the European Parliament in this humanitarian issue.
Finally, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the members of the Committee on Missing Persons for the difficult job they are doing. I welcome their presence this evening in the European Parliament and I trust and hope that the human tragedy of the relatives of the missing persons will end as quickly as possible."@en1
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