Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-383"
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"en.20070314.26.3-383"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the issue of the missing persons in Cyprus has been an open wound for over 30 years. According to official figures, 2 000 people are still missing, from both sides. Each side accuses the other of being uncooperative in the resolution of the cases. I would ask the House to refrain from such accusations, at least in this Chamber. Meanwhile, the families of the missing persons are still living in uncertainty as to the fate of their relatives. The mothers’ tears are the same whether their sons were of Greek or Turkish origin: they were all Cypriots, and died because of
(union with Greece) and
(partition). This is one of the truths when we express our opinions about this conflict.
The work of the Committee on Missing Persons plays an important role in this context, and we cannot thank it enough. This is primarily a humanitarian matter, and we should not make the committee’s work any more difficult by politicising it. The committee’s work is not only important to the relatives of the missing persons, but also serves to bring the two communities closer together. This bi-communal work on the mass graves stimulates a common culture of remembrance and understanding of the trauma suffered by the other side in the past. That is why the financial support is so important – I agree with my fellow Members on this.
EU support for further bi-communal projects on the island is also desirable. I am thinking of projects by filmmakers and intellectuals, such as Panikos Chrysanthou and Niyazi Kizilyürek, and also of the bi-communal art project Manifesta 6 and many other projects, which we must support if all the dreadful images of Cyprus we have seen in the past are to remain in the past and not recur in the future.
The demolition of the bridge on Ledra Street is a sign of hope. The response to this – the demolition of the wall running through Nicosia – is another sign of hope. Let us work together to ensure that these signs of hope are followed by other such signs. Both sides are required to behave in a constructive, European-minded manner to make this conflict in Europe a thing of the past.
We may not be able to bring back the dead, but we can ensure that nationalism is never given another chance in Cyprus."@en1
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