A press conference was given by the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus on the occasion of the launch of the 34th Marathon of Love for Missing Persons.
Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus, the Presidential Commissioner, Photis Photiou, the President of the Pancyprian Fund of the Marathon of Love for Missing Persons and members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation attended the press conference.
Archbishop Chrysostomos stated that, “we will never tire to talk about this humanitarian issue, about our missing people. Unfortunately, Turkey has always been cruel and has not helped us at all for a period of more than 44 years. We call on Turkey to finally open its files, because it knows very well where our dead are, and must give us the information about their location and how they died. The relatives of our missing people have this inalienable right to know and to make a funeral, to say goodbye to them, for the families to be in peace.”
As he pointed out, “we, as a Church, will never tire to care about this issue and we will not hesitate to report it. We will fight everyday, until we’ll be informed about our last missing person.”
Thereafter, the Presidential Commissioner, Photis Photiou, addressed the following statement, “The issue of the missing persons is humanitarian rather than political. Unfortunately, the occupying power plays political games with our missing people, and it is a shame for humanity itself, 45 years later, to be unable to persuade and force the occupying power to cooperate.”
