Cypriots to reopen graves

Nicosia - Cyprus will open decades-old unmarked graves within weeks to try to identify remains of some people missing since the…

Nicosia - Cyprus will open decades-old unmarked graves within weeks to try to identify remains of some people missing since the Turkish invasion in 1974, officials said yesterday. The grisly task will concern burial sites of fewer than 20 people in the southern parts of the island controlled by the government of Cyprus.

More than 2,000 people are missing in Cyprus, which has been divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974 following a brief coup engineered by the military ruling Greece.

More than 1,000 are said to be Greek Cypriots who vanished during the invasion and the remainder Turkish Cypriots who went missing during intercommunal violence on the island in the 1960s and early 1970s.