Burial ceremony for 15 identified Turkish Cypriots in Atlılar postponed to 7 September

The burial ceremony for the remains of 15 Turkish Cypriots whose identities were established by the Committee on Missing Persons (KŞK) has been postponed from 1 September to 7 September. The reason was the ferry disaster off Kyrenia, said Asu Mukhtaroglu, chairwoman of the Central Committee for the Conduct of National Days.

The ceremony will take place at the memorial cemetery in the village of Atlılar on Monday, 7 September, at 10:00.

The remains were recovered during excavations conducted by the KŞK at the site from 24 July 2023 to 23 April 2024. The work on the remains resulted in the identification of 15 people.

Those identified include Tülay Süleyman (28) and her children Hasan (10), Kemal (6) and Okan (3); Mualla Ali Osman (Pipalı) (36) and her children Gülden (4), Özlem (2) and Seldem, who was 40 days old; Ayşe Hasan (56), Kıymet Hasan (22) and Narın Hasan (16); Betül Arnavut (16 months); Gürhan Ali Çerkez (12); Fatma Tahir (46) and Emine Tahir (22).

The Committee on Missing Persons is a bi-communal body operating with the assistance of the United Nations. It searches for, exhumes and identifies the remains of people who went missing during the intercommunal clashes of 1963–1964 and the events of 1974. The committee hands over identified remains to families for burial.