Leonidas Pantelides was reappointed as Representative of the Greek Cypriot Community on the Committee of Missing Persons in Cyprus. His appointment took place March 29th and was published on Monday in the Cyprus Gazette. Pantelides, a former Ambassador, was appointed for the first time by former President Nicos Anastasiades in May 2019. He has served as Ambassador of Cyprus in Sweden, Greece, Russia and the US and was also director of the diplomatic office of the Cyprus President and head of the office of the Middle East affairs. Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion. Numerous rounds of talks under the UN aegis failed so far to yield results. Since the Turkish invasion, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown. A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning to their relatives the remains of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Greek Cypriots, who went missing during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-1964 and in 1974.
Source: Cyprus News Agency