Turkish Cypriot member of the Cyprus Missing Persons Committee (CMP) Hakkı Müftüzade, said that work has begun to open the mass grave in Atlılar so that the remains of 37 Turkish Cypriots, mostly women and children, slaughtered by the Greek Cypriots on 14 August, 1974, can be found and transferred to separate graves.
The remains of four Turkish Cypriots murdered by the EOKA terrorist organisation in 1958 are also in the mass grave.
Müftüzade noted a technical team in Atlılar is carrying out careful and delicate work.
“We are trying to find the bodies and remains of 37 people who were brought from another mass grave and buried in the mass grave in Atlılar. As a result of the work, we aim to identify 37 people and separate them from those previously buried in Atlılar“, he said.
The process of opening and identifying the bodies in the mass grave may take up to six months, Müftüzade said, noting that their remains would be sent to the USA for DNA identification.
Müftüzade stated that after completing the work, each of the massacre victims will be transferred to a separate grave according to the wishes of their families, and that it is difficult to predict how long this process will take.