4 missing persons found in Troulloi village during excavation

The remains believed to belong to four Turkish Cypriots lost in 1963-1964 were discovered in a mining test well in the village of Troulloi, Larnaca following excavation work carried out by the Committee for Missing Persons (CMP).

The remains thought to belong to three Turkish Cypriots were excavated at the Troulloi village following information of the fate of their deaths in 1963-1964 in the first phase of work carried out by the committee at the end of August. However, during the excavations carried out by archaeologists, the remains thought to belong to a fourth person were also found yesterday (28th Oct).

The committee reports that whether or not these remains belong to missing Turkish Cypriots will be determined following the conclusion of the archaeological excavations and the identification of their identities with DNA testing.

In the case that the remains do belong to Turkish Cypriots, this will be the first time in seven years that missing Turkish Cypriots have been detected in South Cyprus following excavation work. If so they will be handed over to their families for burial by the CMP, it has been noted. The Turkish Agency Cyprus (TAK) has had the opportunity of following archaeological excavation work carried out by the bi-communal team of the Committee of Missing Persons in a well in the village of Troulloi for the past two months.

Work by the CMP was carried to further, following the discovery of remains at a depth of 11 meters by archaeologists at the end of August. The team constructed a wide access ramp in the well and is currently working manually, it has been reported. Archaeological excavations in the region are expected to continue on Monday too but will end if no other remains are found. Müftüzade: “Three remains were found in the first phase” CMP Turkish Cypriot Member Hakkı Müftüzade, who issued a statement to the TAK regarding the excavations carried out by the Committee in the village of Troulloi, said, "We evaluated information given to us by witnesses, it was presented to our committee and with the approval of three members the excavations were carried out." "Seven years later, for the first time, the remains that we believe belong to missing Turkish Cypriots have been found in South Cyprus." following excavations in Troulloi, Müftüzade said. Müftüzade also announced that they will soon start excavations in the village of Tsada (Çada) in Paphos (Baf), in an effort of finding remains of missing Turkish Cypriots of 1963. Doğan: “Remains were found at a depth of 11 meters” Hasan Doğan, the team leader of the bi-communal team of archaeologists, stated that in line with the information received by the CMP, the bi-communal team of archaeologists started working in the village of Troulloi at the end of August. “The information that came to the committee was that there may be remains in the wells here. We looked at the maps and identified multiple wells. By marking the location of the wells, we started drilling. As soon as we started, we discovered the human remains. After reaching the human remains, we stopped using the machines and entered the ramp phase. We made a wide access ramp to the well and now we are digging the well completely manually. We are now 11 meters deep. The archaeological procedure continues.” Doğan is cited as saying.

In addition to work in Troulloi, excavations are also being carried out by the CMP at possible burial sites in Akova, Lapta, Gazimağusa, Esentepe, Zeytinlik and Derinya to determine the fate of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots who died in 1963-1964 and 1974. During the excavations carried out by the CMP in 2022, the remains believed to belong to a total of 14 missing persons were found. Accordingly, 4 in Troulloi, 2 in Dilekkaya, 2 in Paşaköy, 1 in Güzelyurt, 1 in Gazimağusa, 1 in Yeniceköy, 1 in Esentepe, 1 in İnya and 1 in Akova believed to belong to the missing persons have been found. During the excavations carried out throughout the island by the CMP since 2006, the remains of 292 out of a total of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 735 out of 1510 Greek Cypriots who were missing in the 1963-1964 and 1974 incidents were found, identified and returned to their families.