Demetriades says that CMP meeting potential step towards truth commission

President Nikos Christodoulides’ move calling for a joint meeting of the anthropological lab of the committee of missing persons (CMP) with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar is a good, lawyer Achilleas Demetriades said as it could be the first to establishing a bicommunal truth commission.

Commenting to the Cyprus Mail, Demetriades said: “It is a very good move [calling for the meeting]. It could be the first step to establish a bicommunal truth commission in Cyprus.”

On Saturday, Christodoulides said that he had written to both Tatar and the UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres requesting that he and Tatar conduct a joint visit to the anthropological lab of CMP.

In his comment, Demetriades, who is also part of the non-governmental organisation TruthNOW, said that this meeting could be a steppingstone to upgrading the existing CMP.

“It could upgrade the existing committee of missing persons, by an agreement between the two leaders, which will then be affirmed by the UN general assembly in September,” he said.

Demetriades also told the Cyprus Mail that the president had also given him a pre-election promise that he would look into establishing a truth commission.

Speaking after the memorial of resistance fighters during the July 15 coup that was the excuse for the Turkish invasion of July 20,1974, the president said that the Greek Cypriot side will continue to send positive messages, hoping that there will be reciprocation [from the Turkish Cypriot side].

“Every day through our actions we try to create those conditions, so that the talks can resume,” he said and added that it was for this reason that Friday he addressed both the UN Secretary General and the Turkish Cypriot leader in writing, requesting a joint meeting at the CMP lab at the end of July or beginning of August.

“We also have some other thoughts that we have already processed, exactly showcasing our good will, so that the conditions for the resumption of talks are created, which is the great, national goal,” he added.

When asked if the thoughts concern Turkish Cypriots or the process of talks, the president said, “and not only” and added that the thoughts concern “our Turkish Cypriot compatriots and in general the talks and anything that can lead to the creation of conditions that will allow the resumption of meaningful talks from where they stayed in Crans Montana.”