The Greek Cypriot administration is politicizing the issue of individuals who have gone missing since the violence that accompanied the coup of 1974, which prompted Türkiye's peace operation on the island, a Turkish Cypriot representative with the United Nations said on Thursday.
With a recent decision to declare Oct. 29 the Day of Missing Persons in Cyprus, the Greek Cypriot side defied a 1997 agreement with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) that the matter "should not be used as a political tool and exploited," Hakkı Müftüzade, a member of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, told Anadolu Agency (AA).
"This is also in the job description of the committee members. It'll suffice to say, we want this issue not to be abused politically. This issue should not be politicized," said Müftüzade, who represents Turkish Cypriots at the bi-communal committee established by the sides in 1981 with U.N. participation.
Müftüzade underlined that with the decision, condemned by the TRNC, the Greek Cypriot administration had failed to show the necessary sensitivity on such a humanitarian matter.
The TRNC on Monday "strongly" condemned the Greek Cypriot administration for declaring Oct. 29 as "Missing Persons Day," underlining that the Greek side of the island exploits a humanitarian issue for political ends.
A statement by the Foreign Ministry said: "We strongly condemn the Greek Cypriot administration, which started to suffer great losses since 1963 due to the Greek atrocities, and whose sufferings came to an end in 1974 with the rightful intervention of the motherland Türkiye due to their guarantor rights, ignores the losses that the Turkish Cypriot people have suffered for years and uses the issue of missing persons as political material, for this statement."
"The fact that the Greek Cypriot administration, which claims to oppose the politicization of the issue of missing persons on the island, coincided with this provocative decision on Oct. 29, the founding anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye, and used this sensitive issue as political material, is a great disrespect and insult," it added.
It also stated that the Greek Cypriot administration, by ignoring the Turkish Cypriot people, who were its only interlocutor on the Cyprus issue, resorted to a futile effort to address Türkiye at every opportunity.
"We invite the Greek Cypriot side, who has gone so far as to manipulate the historical facts of the island in their own interests and to use the pain of the relatives of the disappeared for their own interests, to act with common sense and to refrain from taking steps that will negatively affect the work of the Committee of Missing Persons," it added.
"The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has done and will continue to do its part to contribute to the work of the Missing Persons Committee, which is the only mechanism authorized to work on the disappearances and to prevent the issue from being used as political material. The day the Greek Cypriot side accepts the fact that the co-owner of this island is the Turkish Cypriot people, it will be possible to establish a real dialogue between the two peoples and to live side by side in good neighborly relations between the two sovereign equal states," it outlined.
Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983 and it is only officially recognized by Türkiye.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the U.N. Annan Plan to end the longstanding dispute.
Today, the Turkish side supports a solution based on the equal sovereignty of the two states on the island. On the other hand, the Greek side wants a federal solution based on the hegemony of the Greeks.
