Written declaration No. 421 | Doc. 11822 | 29 January 2009

Committee of Missing Persons (Cyprus) and ECHR Judgments

Signatories: Ms Antigoni PAPADOPOULOS, Cyprus ; Mr John AUSTIN, United Kingdom ; Mr Ioannis BANIAS, Greece ; Ms Anna BENAKI-PSAROUDA, Greece ; Ms Anna ČURDOVÁ, Czech Republic ; Mr David DARCHIASHVILI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Ms Lydie ERR, Luxembourg, SOC ; Mr Bill ETHERINGTON, United Kingdom ; Mr Giorgi GABASHVILI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Giorgi KANDELAKI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Emmanouil KEFALOYIANNIS, Greece ; Ms Krista KIURU, Finland, SOC ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Eduard KUKAN, Slovak Republic ; Mr Jaakko LAAKSO, Finland, UEL ; Mr Terry LEYDEN, Ireland, ALDE ; Ms Anna LILLIEHÖÖK, Sweden ; Mr Dick MARTY, Switzerland, ALDE ; Ms Christine McCAFFERTY, United Kingdom ; Sir Alan MEALE, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Oľga NACHTMANNOVÁ, Slovak Republic ; Ms Hermine NAGHDALYAN, Armenia, ALDE ; Mr Gebhard NEGELE, Liechtenstein, EPP/CD ; Mr Edward O'HARA, United Kingdom ; Mr Hryhoriy OMELCHENKO, Ukraine ; Mr Aristotelis PAVLIDIS, Greece ; Ms Marietta de POURBAIX-LUNDIN, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Christos POURGOURIDES, Cyprus, EPP/CD ; Mr Armen RUSTAMYAN, Armenia, SOC ; Mr Fidias SARIKAS, Cyprus, SOC ; Mr Ladislav SKOPAL, Czech Republic ; Mr Petré TSISKARISHVILI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Rudi VIS, United Kingdom ; Mr Konstantinos VRETTOS, Greece, SOC ; Ms Rodoula ZISSI, Greece

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

In its 2nd Interim Resolution, in April 2007, concerning the implementation of the E.C.H.R judgment in the 4th Interstate Application of Cyprus vs Turkey, the Committee of Ministers called inter alia upon Turkey, to provide information on additional measures required to ensure effective investigation into the ascertainment of the fate of the missing persons of Cyprus.

Instead however, Turkey referred to the work of the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP), attempting to present it as a “substitute” to the mechanism for the ascertainment of the fate of the missing, that it should establish.

The European Court of Human Rights, however, in its judgment of the case Varnava and Others vs Turkey in 2008, found that although the CMP’s procedures are undoubtedly useful for humanitarian purposes, these procedures, could not at all be considered as sufficient means of an ‘effective investigation’ required by Article 2 of the Convention.

We, the undersigned, call therefore upon Turkey, to urgently inform the Committee of Ministers of the investigation mechanisms and additional measures it intends to take in implementing the Court’s aforementioned judgments and in conformity to the European Convention of Human Rights.