Akel member of the European parliament Giorgos Georgiou has called for a “common monument” to honour the people from both the Turkish Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot communities who went missing during conflicts on the island between 1963 and 1974.

His comments come after an amendment to the EU’s budget for the coming year demanding a monument to only those who went missing during Turkey’s invasion of the island in 1974 was passed by the European parliament last week after having been put forward by Disy MEP Michalis Hadjipantela.

He made the demand in a letter to European parliament president Roberta Metsola.

“Considering that the European parliament has repeatedly demonstrated a high level of understanding and sensitivity over the issue of missing persons in Cyprus, as well as your personal interest, active commitment, and humane approach to the plight of the families of the missing persons in Cyprus, we ask you to recognise the necessity of erecting a common monument in the European parliament,” he wrote.

He added that the issue of missing persons “should not be exploited by either side”.

“On the contrary, the clarification of the fate of all missing persons in Cyprus should be a bridge of reconciliation and strengthen mutual understanding, cooperation, and mutual trust between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.”

To this end, he said the issue of missing persons “concerns both communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, equally”.

“This, after all, is the philosophy of the mission of the Committee on Missing Persons [CMP], which is carrying out a valuable task.”

Akel, he added, supports “the work of the CMP and demands in all international and European forums the exercise of real pressure on Turkey to provide information and to open the archives of the occupying army”.

Disy, meanwhile, doubled down on its position, saying on Wednesday afternoon that “we consider the reactions from the Turkish Cypriot side and from part of the Greek Cypriot left to be wrong”.

The party did, however, stress that “this does not mean that we do not recognise the pain of our Turkish Cypriot compatriots for their own missing persons”, but insisted that “unlike Turkey, our side is doing everything it can to determine their fate”.

Reactions from the Turkish Cypriot side came chiefly from Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, who had on Saturday aid it is “impossible to accept” the erection of such a monument, adding that “this decision demonstrates a complete ignorance of the work of the CMP, which has been working on the issue of missing persons for years”.

Also included in the European parliament’s adopted text regarding the budget was a demand for the EU to allocate an extra €1 million of funding to the CMP and to the bicommunal technical committee on cultural heritage.

If approved by the European Council, the money will be allocated through the EU’s aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community.

In its 2025 aid programme, the EU allocated €2.6m to the CMP and €2.5m for the technical committee on cultural heritage.