CMP to search ‘dump’

A MILLION cubic metres of methane-generating rubbish may have to be excavated at the former Dikmen dump following reports that dozens of Greek Cypriots killed during the 1974 Turkish military intervention were reburied there between 1995 and 1996.

Gülden Plümer Küçük, the Turkish Cypriot representative on the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), said a detailed search of the site, which was closed and decommissioned with EU funding between 2009 and 2012, when the replacement 3.5 million-euro Güngör landfill was opened, could be necessary if “eye-witnesses” information is verified.

“But because around one million cubic metres of rubbish is in the old landfill, an excavation would probably be very costly,” said Mrs Kücük, who added that an extra complication in any extensive search for remains was a high concentration of methane gas emitted by the rubbish.

She said the initial report remained to be verified and that experts involved in the Dikmen rehabilitation project would be consulted about any potential excavation.

The Greek Cypriot CMP representative, Nestoras Nestoros, said a Portuguese expert who had headed the decommissioning of the dump was to draft a report detailing work carried out there at the time.

According to South Cyprus media reports, witnesses have said the remains of some 70 Greek Cypriots from the village of Paşaköy, east of Lefkoşa, who were killed in 1974 were taken to Dikmen for reburial between 1995 and 1996.