‘About time’ to help children of those missing from 1974

President Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday instructed his government to explore the possibility of offering financial and psychological support to the children of missing persons.

The decision came as he met with a group representing the children of those listed as missing since the 1974 invasion along with head of the humanitarian affairs for missing Anna Aristotelous.

For 50 years they have not received any form of psychological support, Aristotelous said after the meeting at the palace

“The loss of one of their parents, and in particular their father at the time, stigmatised the lives of these children.”

Though no one can replace the father they lost, the state will be by their side to support them and see how they can be helped, she specified.

“As the president himself said, they should not be considered part of the broader group of the vulnerable population. They should be granted benefits beyond what every vulnerable citizen is allowed.”

To this end, their request for financial and psychological support will be thoroughly explored, she said.

Head of the initiative Despina Gregoriou said this is the first time the government met the children of the missing face-to-face and looked at the greatest aspect of the 1974 tragedy in the eye.

She thanked Christodoulides and Aristotelous for their interest and expressed her hope that they could continue to cooperate.

According to Georgiou, there are around 400 people listed as children of the missing that are part of the initiative.

“There is no registered list and we are trying to prepare this with the help of Aristotelous and the president.”

The initiative gifted the president a shirt that read ‘1619 – initiative for the children of the missing. We all grew up with this number.’

The number 1619 has been the figure countless governments insisted were those missing, despite increasing evidence that many were already dead. Scores of those listed as one of the 1619 missing were in fact buried in mass graves in the Republic.

Even after many of the remains were found, efforts were made to keep the number at 1619, rather than adjust it.

As such, many lived in hope that their missing relative could come back, a narrative that was perpetuated for decades, and information of their death largely blanked.