VZCZCXRO4386
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNC #0595/01 1980650
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170650Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7996
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4998
RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS 3895
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0221
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0901

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NICOSIA 000595 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CY UNFICYP PHUM PGOV
SUBJECT: EMOTION OF FIRST RETURNS OF MISSING PERSONS 
THREATENS TO POLITICIZE FUTURE HANDOVERS 
 
REF: A. NICOSIA 583 
     ¶B. NICOSIA 506 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  The UN Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) 
in Cyprus has returned to family members the remains of 28 
Cypriots missing from the 1963 to 1974 period of 
intercommunal conflict.  The remains of all 13 Turkish 
Cypriots were buried in an elaborate and emotional July 12 
military ceremony.  Four of the 15 Greek Cypriots have been 
buried in quiet, individual family services since July 8; the 
remaining 11 are expected to be buried soon.  A second set of 
about 30 remains is scheduled to be handed over to families 
by the end of July.  Despite the nationalist flair of the 
Turkish Cypriot ceremony, the missing persons issue has 
remained mostly apolitical.  However, additional funerals and 
possible separate meetings at the CMP by Cyprus President 
Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali 
Talat could alter the situation.  Any politicization of the 
handovers would endanger the CMP's delicately-balanced 
bicommunal mission. End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
CMP: "AMAZINGLY SLOW, BUT AMAZINGLY SUCCESSFUL" 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2.  (U) Composed of one representative each from the Greek 
Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in addition to one UN 
"Third Member," the CMP has been working since April 2006 to 
identify the remains of persons missing from the 1963 to 1974 
period of intercommunal conflict in Cyprus.  Because of the 
level of cooperation and its results, commentators have 
hailed the project as one of the few bicommunal successes on 
the island.  As of June 12, the CMP had positively identified 
28 Cypriots (15 Greek Cypriots and 13 Turkish Cypriots) 
through genetic testing and anthropological investigations 
(reftel B).  The CMP began notifying relatives of the missing 
on June 28, and many families proceeded swiftly to the CMP's 
temporary "Family Viewing Facility" in the UN Buffer Zone to 
reclaim remains.  CMP Third Member Christophe Girod reported 
to Poloffs July 13 that approximately half of the Turkish 
Cypriot families and all of the Greek Cypriot families have 
come to view their loved ones; the other Turkish Cypriot 
families were content merely to receive the remains.  The 
first handovers commenced the week of July 2.  The first 
funeral was for a Greek Cypriot on July 8; all of the 
identified Greek Cypriots are expected to be buried by July 
¶17.  All 13 Turkish Cypriot remains were returned and buried 
July 12. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The CMP's timetable has steadily lengthened over 
the past year, but the committee's work persists on schedule 
in terms of the total number of missing persons returned.  In 
Girod's words, the process has been "amazingly slow, but 
amazingly successful."  Although he had anticipated the 
exhumation of about 100 remains by this point, Girod also had 
expected the CMP Anthropological Laboratory to identify 
successfully only one out of every three remains.  To date, 
the lab has identified positively all 60 exhumed remains 
except for two Greek Cypriot cousins, whom scientists have 
been unable to differentiate.  This rapid progress sparked 
the CMP to request that the lab slow its work because of the 
emotional strain placed on Girod and his staff, who accompany 
families at all viewings.  So far, the CMP has mandated the 
release of the approximately 60 identified remains in two 
batches of about 30 each.  According to Girod, exhumations 
continue to progress well at sites near Lakatamia, Limassol 
and Protaras. 
 
---------------------- 
A "MISSED OPPORTUNITY" 
---------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In line with their mutual understanding not to 
politicize the humanitarian work of the CMP, Talat and 
Papadopoulos have remained mostly on the sidelines of the 
missing persons issue for the past year, but possibly not for 
much longer.  Two months ago, Girod initially proposed a 
simultaneous meeting of the two leaders at the CMP, to which 
neither party responded positively.  On July 5, Papadopoulos 
suddenly changed his stance and proposed, through Girod, to 
meet with Talat to tour the CMP lab, an offer that Talat 
immediately refused because he claimed doing so would 
politicize the CMP's work (reftel A).  Consequently, 
 
NICOSIA 00000595  002 OF 003 
 
 
Papadopoulos met unilaterally with the CMP on July 16.  Girod 
called the failed bilateral meeting a "missed opportunity," 
but he believe that Papadopoulos's visit, might spur Talat to 
seek his own separate meeting. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
MILITARY CEREMONY FOR TURKISH CYPRIOT "MARTYRS" 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5.  (U) In accordance with Muslim tradition to bury the 
deceased on the same day the body is received, all 13 missing 
Turkish Cypriots were buried July 12, just two hours after 
their families gathered their remains.  The "martyrs," who 
all came from the village of Aleminyo near Larnaca and died 
together on July 20, 1974, were treated to a full military 
ceremony, with Turkish and "TRNC" flags draped on each 
coffin.  "TRNC President" Talat, Turkish "Ambassador" 
Turkekul Kurttekin, Turkish Cypriot Peace Forces Commander 
Hayri Kivrikoglu and other "government officials" attended 
the ceremony, though as personal invitees of the families and 
not in any official capacity.  The sole speaker was Kudret 
Ozersay, an international law professor at Eastern 
Mediterranean University (and 2007 IV grantee) whose father 
and three uncles were buried at the funeral.  Ozersay told 
the crowd of about 300 mourners that the killing of the 13 in 
Aleminyo "trampled all moral and normative rules," but that 
from "this crime against humanity, we came out as conscious, 
alert and sober youth, not blindly hateful, but instead 
dedicated not to let anyone live through what we have." 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The CMP Assistant Turkish Cypriot Member Ahmet 
Erdengiz told Poloff July 13 that "everything went like 
clockwork" during the ceremony.  He explained the military 
ceremony was the desire of the families, a much better 
alternative than a "state funeral" that would have resembled 
a warlike parade and involved "government officials" and 
security forces making speeches.  Erdengiz put blame for 
nationalist misuse of the scene on UBP Chairman Tahsin 
Ertugruoglu, who has advocated "state" honors at every 
opportunity and criticized the Turkish Cypriot leadership for 
not properly respecting the "martyrs."  Though Erdengiz 
reiterated that the authorities would remain "vigilant" on 
any exploitation of the families' grief, he predicted the War 
Veterans and Relatives of Martyrs Association would likely 
succeed in ensuring that every subsequent funeral would be a 
military ceremony like this one.  The Association's head, 
Ertan Ersan, is notoriously nationalistic and well-connected 
with relatives of the missing; he was reportedly able to 
persuade several unconvinced families into acquiescing to 
this military ceremony. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Reaction to the funeral in the press fell along 
predictable lines.  The left-leaning daily Yeniduzen 
applauded Ozersay's peaceful speech and called for the 
Turkish Cypriot public to exhibit equally "mature" responses, 
while the right-wing newspapers lamented the suffering of the 
13 "martyrs." 
 
------------------------------ 
GREEK CYPRIOTS' QUIET REACTION 
------------------------------ 
 
¶8.  (SBU) In stark contrast to the Turkish Cypriot ceremony, 
Greek Cypriot families quietly have collected and buried the 
remains of their missing relatives, with very little public 
fanfare.  The first funeral was held privately on July 8, and 
another followed unannounced, in accordance with the family's 
wishes for total privacy.  Church of Cyprus Archbishop 
Chrysostomos II officiated at a third funeral July 14, where 
Democratic Party leader Marios Karoyian read the eulogy, and 
the Metropolitan of Kitium Bishop Chrysostomos presided over 
a fourth funeral July 15, where Minister of Justice and 
Public Order Sophocles Sophocleous delivered the eulogy. 
Several hundred friends and relatives attended each, but 
despite the presence of high-profile clergy and politicians, 
both funerals were solemn, apolitical affairs devoid of any 
accusations leveled at the Turkish Cypriots.  Nicos 
Theodossiou, President of the Committee of Relatives of 
Undeclared Prisoners of War and Missing Persons, told Poloff 
July 16 that he expected the remaining 11 families of 
identified missing persons to seek similar dignified 
ceremonies without excessive publicity.  Theodossiou 
attributed these families' reactions to the smooth 
 
NICOSIA 00000595  003 OF 003 
 
 
continuation of the exhumations and good spirit of 
cooperation within the CMP.  Aside from basic factual 
reporting of the two weekend burials, the Greek Cypriot press 
has reflected the perspectives of the families and been 
largely silent in covering the handovers. 
 
---------------------------------- 
DICIER HANDOVERS, FUNERALS TO COME 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The second round of about 30 handovers from the 
original 60 will commence by the end of July, after which, 
Girod said, the CMP's work likely will become more difficult. 
 The first set of remains were deliberately chosen because 
they were fairly complete skeletons that would require less 
testing, and the first notifications were selected because 
CMP members knew many of the families.  Greek Cypriot CMP 
Member Elias Georgiades commented June 25 to PolChief that, 
at the behest of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot 
members, the CMP also decided to deliver the first handovers 
to moderate families unlikely to seek public grandstanding 
(reftel A).  Furthermore, the handovers have coincided well 
with the Cypriot calendar, coming just before the island 
effectively shuts down in August for summer vacations, which 
Girod believed would help smooth over any heated reactions. 
However, many of the remains now set for identification are 
not complete skeletons and will require more testing, with 
the associated increases in time and expense.  Additionally, 
families now will be notified in the order in which the 
remains are identified, with some relatives possibly 
demanding "justice" or "vengeance" against the respective 
other side.  Girod noted that the CMP would continue to 
comply completely with family members' requests, even should 
they opt for "state funerals" that would assuredly strike 
more nationalist tones. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
COMMENT: INCREASING POLITICS COULD POLARIZE ISSUE, HAMSTRING 
CMP 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Although the Turkish Cypriot leadership maintains 
that the military ceremony did not exploit the families' 
grief, its highly nationalistic character and the mere 
presence of political figures would suggest otherwise, 
especially given Talat's simultaneous refusal of 
Papadopoulos's offer to meet jointly at the CMP. 
Nonetheless, given the significance of the first returns of 
missing persons, Talat could not have turned down an 
appearance at the funeral (even though he visibly looked as 
though he would rather not have been there); to have done so 
would have made him fall into a political trap set by his 
nationalist and military enemies.  With the continuing 
success of the CMP and the need to ensure its future funding 
from abroad, neither leader is likely to grandstand too much: 
the electoral climate is pushing Papadopoulos toward 
bicommunal progress; Talat, unless totally cornered by the 
Turkish General Staff, has much to lose by even appearing to 
instigate anti-solution sentiments.  The problem for both 
leaders will be continuing to ignore the voices that seek to 
use the handovers to press greater nationalistic themes 
within their respective communities.  Those voices are sure 
to grow stronger as long as the emotions of these funerals 
remain in the public eye.  End comment. 
 
SCHLICHER