President Ersin Tatar visited the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP), where he drew importance to the humane work carried out by the committee over the years, and that it served as a reminder  of the victimisation Turkish Cypriots had been subjected to, such as the Turkish Cypriots having being taken from their homes, being abducted and disappearing whilst travelling on the road, abducted by EOKA on the way to or at their workplaces, tied up, shot and killed, and found in mass graves and wells years later.


The President stated that the Missing Persons committee carries out important and difficult work and research in order to determine the fate of the missing people and added that there are also many Greek Cypriots on the Missing list who disappeared during and after the coup of Greece on July 15, 1974 which was followed by a civil war amongst the Greek Cypriots themselves. 

Recalling that then Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Bülent Ecevit, had clearly stated during that period that Turkey was bringing peace to Cyprus, the President  emphasised that the missing persons of the Greek Cypriot side had occurred after 1974.


President Tatar added that "it is the Turkish Cypriot families who have been suffering the most distress,” and stated that the bodies of many people such as Member of Parliament Cengiz Ratip is yet to be found.  Emphasising that the families of the missing want their loved ones to be found and properly buried, to allow people to visit the individual grave of their loved ones and offer a prayer, the President thanked everyone who works in the Committee of Missing Persons.  He also thanked Latife Bilgen, the first Turkish Cypriot member of the CMP, his father Rüstem Tatar, who was Turkish Cypriot member of the CMP for 20 years, Gülden Plümer Küçük and the current head, Hakkı Müftüzade, for all their services.


Emphasising that efforts are being made to minimize the victimisation of our people, President Tatar wished success to the Committee of Missing Persons.

During his visit President Tatar was accompanied by Press Research Archive Advisor Aydın Akkurt and Health Consultant Prof. Dr. Nedime Serakıncı.