CoE urges Turkey for ProActive, Intensive and Rapid, Searches + INVESTIGATIONS on Cyprus' MISSING

practically asked today Turkey to be more "ProActive", "Intensified" and "Rapid" in "Searching" on "Still Missing" Persons" (A), but also to make "Progress" in the "Investigations conducted into the Death of the Identified persons " (B),

while new and old Facts, nevertheless, piled up giving a net impression to any careful observer, that Ankara persists to Drag its Feet, even 39 Years after the 1974 Military Invasion and Occupation, with total Impunity until now (See Infra), contrary to what happens in some other areas of the World, even Latin America (f.ex. Argentina)...

CoE's Ministers, who are entrusted with the duty of Supervising the Execution of ECHR's Judgements, were examining Turkey's compliance with two landmark ECHR's Judgements : That of "Cyprus v. Turkey", where ECHR's Plenary had strongly condemned since 2001 Ankara's Authorities for grossly Violating many Basic Human Rights in the overall cases of Greek Cypriot "Missing People", as well as that of a particularly important subsequent ECHR judgement "Varnavas", of October 2010, on 9 concrete Cases of "Missing" G/C raised by their Families, where Turkey was anew Condemned, particularly after the Macabre Findings of August 2010 about the cold-blood Murder of 4 defenseless Greek Cypriot POWs, whose Mass Grave had been Hidden on purpose by the Killers, at another but similar case where the unforgettable and well known Photographs of the Victims, after they had been taken Alive by Ankara's Invasion and Occupation Army, had shocked the Public Opinion, (See : ...).

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              - (A) "As regards the Search of the persons who are Still Missing", (i.e. whose remains haven't been yet found, and whose Fate is practicaly unknown), CoE anew stressed "he Necessity of adopting a Proactive approach", and, for that purpose, the PanEuropean Organization of Human Rights "called on the Turkish Authorities to" :

1) "provide the CMP (the UNO-sponsored Committee on Missing Persons, composed by a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot Member, chaired by a representative of the ICRC) with All relevant Information", (i.e. including, f.ex. Military Archives, Prisons' Lists, f.ex. in Adana, etc).

2) and, particularly, "to .... Intensify their efforts aimed at Rapidly giving Access to all relevant Places", i.e. including also "Military Zones" in the Occupied Territories of Cyprus.

On the 1st point, CoE's Ministers also "Insisted on their Request to receive Updated Information on the individual Measures taken in respect of ...8 ...persons concerned by the (Varnava) case", (ECHR's 2010 Judgement which Condemned Turkey on many concrete cases of "Missing" Persons raised by their Families : See "EuroFora"s NewsReport : ......), reminding Ankara that a "Proactive approach (is) Required in (such) cases".

But, on the 2nd point, among several other Scandalous Facts DIscovered during the recent years, including the Killings of defenseless, Jailed Persons (mainly since August 2010 : See : ....),, a 2013 Letter by the Family of a Cyprus' Missing (Nicos Kouloumas) revealed that a Tiny Part of Skull from their Father, who had gone Missing since a Group of Turkish Soldiers had pushed him out of a Church full of Prisoners (i.e. separating him from his Family, with whom he had been arrested), was found thrown deep in a Well, with traces of Brutal Violence on it, and urged CoE to convince Turkey to Open Access to a Military Zone in which was located a Tree where their Father had been reportedly led by Ankara's Soldiers. Despite several demands by the 4 Children of the apparently Murdered man, and his ailing Wife, to get at least the Body of their Father in order to burry it, nevertheless, UN-sponsored CMP had informed the Family of the Missing person, in a Letter dated from the End of 2012, that "the Official Position of the Turkish Military is that ...the .... site ... is inside a Military Camp", and, therefore, "it will be available to the CMP only AFTER (it) finishes Excavations in (all) the Civilian Areas" !...

Nevertheless, despite Turkish Government's claims that it would have authorized, at least at the Last Minute, access to "several" Military Zones, on the contrary, CoE's Decision clearly marks the fact that, since the 1974 Military Innvasion and Occupation of part of Cyprus, Ankara's cronies have been, indeed, Blocking CoE/UN investigarors' Access to Military Zones all this Time, since it's only so Late as Now, towards the End of 2013, that Turkey reportedly said in Strasbourg that it would have just "granted permission to the CMP .. to a 2nd (sic !!) fenced Military Area" during 39 Years (1974-2013) !...

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               (B) As regards the mort Crucial stage, on "the Death of Identified Persons", (i.e. whose Remains were found), CoE was mainly interested on the "Investigations conducted" here, from the points of view of Access to Information and Efficient Results :

1) Focusing now mainly on the First point, which is of Crucial Importance in these cases, CoE's decision "Underlined" the "Importance for Investigators to have Access to Forensic Data (i.e. for Data serving to Find what really Happened and who are Responsible for any eventually serious Crime), and to All the Evidence kept by the CMP".

Indeed, concerning certain "Issues raised in the framework of the Implementation of (the above-mentioned ECHR's) Judgments, CoE's Ministers noted "with great Interest", an "Exchange of Vies" with the "CMP", scheduled earlier this week in Strasbourg (Comp: ...), "which brought important Clarifications".

=> In particular, CoE "noted" in its Decision "that CMP Keeps" such ("Forensic" + "All Evidence") Data "with the Aim of Transferring them to the Investigators", and this includes "as well ... Any material Element which might constitute Evidence in a Criminal Investigation", it stressed.

However, even if these long awaited precisions are obviously welcome, nevertheless, they obviously don't fully reply to the serious Concerns already expressed to "EuroFora"s co-Founder vt CoE's Senior Officials as early as since March 2007, (See our Publication then to "Cyprus Weekly", followed also by More relevant Developments that we published subsequently, iitially to "TCW" and later-on at "EuroFora"), mainly about the obvious "Risks to Destroy Evidence of Crimes", f.ex. when Victims' belongings are returned by CMP to their Family for Burrial, without doing any Forensic Examination previously, together with the Body found, (without f.ex. carefully examining previously its exact Position in relation with this or that Forensic Hypothesis, etc)

Risks which might be efficiently faced only if a Forensic Investigation about possible Criminal Responsibilities, could be conducted right from the outset, i.e. starting immediately whenever the remains of one or more "Missing" Persons are found, as several International Human Rights' NGO's representatives have already advised, in reply to "EuroFora" co-founder's question, (comp. our relevant Publications in "TCW" and/or "EuroFora").

2) => Moreover, on the Second point, the PanEuropean Organisation's Ministerial Committee "Invited ("the Turkish Authorities") to keep (the CoE) Informed on (any) Progress" eventually "Achieved in the field" of "Investigations conducted into the Death of Identified Persons", ...

+ In particular, concerning "Varnava case" (Comp. Supra), CoE "invited the Turkish authorities to ...keep.. the Committee (of Ministers) informed on the Progress of the Investigation in the Hadjipantelli case", (i.e. on a "Missing" Greek Cypriot who had been abducted from his Family Home by Turkish troops, and whose remains were found a long time afterwards), CoE also "Insisted" on the need for Fresh News "on the individual Measures taken in respect of ...8 other persons concerned by the (Varnava) case", reminding Ankara that a "Proactive approach (is) Required" in such affairs.

Because CoE now officially knows that, more than 8 Years after the Start of a Controversial process initially focusing on CMP's too Limited Mandate just for establishing the Identity of "Missing" Persons' remains, without ever doing any among the Necessary Forensic Investigations in order to Discover what really Happened to them, Find and Punish those Responsible for their Enforced Disappearance, (as ECHR's Judgements repeatedly asked Turkey to do),

only about 400 out of the more than 2.000 Missing Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been found, and, among them, some rudimentary "Criminal Investigations" have reportedly "started" in Less than 300 cases, but ... NONE of them hasN't yet produced Any Result at all, (as reveals a Letter sent by Turkey to Strasbourg last week) !...

+ Meanwhile, Turkey is Dragging its feet even on the simple "Payment of the just satisfaction awarded by the ECHR in the Varnava case" of 2010, CoE's Committee of Ministers found Today :

- "Recalling with Insistence their Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2013)201 adopted in September 2013", which, already, had "Exhorted Turkey to Pay, without further delay, the sums awarded (to the Victims' Families by the ECHR), as well as the default interest due", CoE's Highest Political body expressed its "Regret that to date the Turkish authorities did Not (even) Reply to this Interim Resolution, and decided in consequence to resume consideration of this issue (on) March 2014", (I.e. 8 Months Earlier than the Next General Rendez-vous given to Turkey on Cyprus' "Missing" Persons, scheduled for next December, 2014).