Cyprus seeks answers and closure on missing

NICOSIA, Dec 12: The skeleton lying on the white sheet, identified only by a serial number on the wall above, is a stark reminder of years of conflict in divided Cyprus and the legacy of bitterness that remains.

Nobody knows who this man was: all they know is that he wore dark grey trousers, a pale shirt, probably lace-up shoes and pale brown socks, which remained surprisingly intact during years buried in the damp earth.

It's not much to go on.

''How many men were wearing grey trousers back then?'' a researcher asked as he picked up a small piece of linen and examined it. ''About two-thirds of the population.'' The nameless man, and scores of others like him who disappeared decades ago, offer a poignant reminder of the disputes keeping Turkish and Greek communities apart on this east Mediterranean island.

Cyprus has been divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974 which followed a brief coup by Greek Cypriot extremists seeking union with Greece.

The island has defied repeated reunification attempts: the latest plan by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was approved by Turkish Cypriots eager for international recognition but rejected by wealthier Greek Cypriots in a 2004 referendum.

The tensions are a key obstacle to Turkey's ambitions of joining the European Union. Greek Cypriots represent the island in the EU.

The political reunification process appears blocked for now, but for the first time in at least three decades, Cypriots on both sides of the island's dividing line are working together to resolve one issue nagging at their collective consciousness: the island's 2,000 missing people.

Since September, local scientists from both sides working under the direction of an Argentina-based forensics group -- Equipo Argentino de Antropologia Forense (EAAF) -- have been exhuming remains from unmarked graves across the island.

''There is a new climate in and around Cyprus,'' said Christophe Girod, a Swiss diplomat on the United Nations-backed Committee of Missing Persons (CMP), which was tasked this year with overseeing exhumations of suspected mass graves.

''It's made it possible for the issue of missing to be tackled and kept outside of political recriminations.''

EXHUMATIONS

The missing persons issue is a highly charged one which has added to decades of mistrust between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Some 1,500 Greek Cypriots and some 500 Turkish Cypriots went missing during the 1974 invasion or during clashes between both communities in the 1960s.

To find the bodies, the CMP and the anthropologists and archaeologists are using data collected by investigators working with both communities.

Remains are painstakingly reassembled in a laboratory for DNA testing. The first concrete identifications may be possible in the first half of 2007.

But not everyone will get the answers they dearly want.

''It is important for us not to raise false expectations among families. Science is not like 'CSI Miami','' said EAAF's Luis Fondebrider, a forensic anthropologist, referring to a US television series about forensic pathology.

''In some cases its going to be very difficult, impossible to find remains, or to identify some of them.'' Since September, some 70 human remains have been discovered.

Sixty are close to being identified, but concluding the whole process could take years, said Girod, who has had experience with missing persons in the Balkans and in the Wasia.

FIRST IDENTIFICATIONS

As work progresses, it is awakening long-buried memories, with more people coming forward with information.

''You will often see that when people start believing in a process, they will come forward with additional information,'' said Jennifer Wright, another member of the forensic team.

Fondebrider said it was important that people on both sides had faith in the scientists.

''It is important that the families know that it is a bicommunal team, it is not foreigners coming to do this on their own. They need to believe in us, and we have tried to build up a relationship of trust,'' he said.

The lab records where the body was found, the clothing and any old injuries which could give clues about the person's identification -- gathering as much information as possible before DNA testing.

The man with the grey trousers, for instance, had an old injury to a rib bone. Some exhumed remains were recovered with rings and watches. Even buttons can yield clues.

''It's like a puzzle, and we are trying to get as clear a picture as possible,'' said Oran Finnegan, an Irish scientist on the project.

Reuters