BAYBORA and OTHERS v. CYPRUS
Inadmissible
Gaukur Jörundsson
The applicants, Mr Saydam Hüsnü Baybora, Mr Hüsnü Mullaz Fevzi Baybora, Mrs Radiye Baybora, Mr Selçuk Baybora, Mr Gültekin Baybora and Mrs Aydaner Gökçen. They were born in 1940, 1913, 1918, 1944, 1947 and 1950 respectively and live in Ertenköy (Kokkina), Cyprus. They are represented before the Court by Mr Z. Necatigil and Ms S. Karabacak, lawyers practising in Turkey. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. The first applicant was living in Erenköy (Kokkina), Cyprus, when he was abducted on 1 January 1964 by forces under the control and/or the responsibility of the respondent Government. The second and third applicants are the father and the mother of the first applicant. The other applicants are his brothers and sister. The applicants submit that in 1964 their village had run out of food supplies because hostilities between the two communities had prevented any form of safe transportation of food. On 1 January 1964 the first applicant, together with his friend, Lütfi Celul Karabardak, who owned a bus, took this bus and headed towards the Turkish-Cypriot town of Lefke. On the way, whilst passing through the Greek-Cypriot village of Pyrgos, he and his friend were abducted by a group of armed Greek-Cypriots, including a police officer, and taken to an unknown destination. They were never heard of again. The persistent efforts of the relatives to ascertain the fate of the missing persons were in vain. Subsequently, on 4 April 1989, the first applicant’s case was submitted to the appropriate authority on missing persons, the United Nations Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (“CMP”) (case number 146). According to the personal diary of a certain Georghiou Luca, a teacher from the Greek-Cypriot village of Mosphileri, which was found in the possession of a Turkish-Cypriot journalist, the missing persons were “executed” summarily in the Greek-Cypriot cemetery of Pyrgos village by armed Greek Cypriots named Mouzouri and Pari “on the instructions of the Headquarters” (the code-name of the then Minister of Interior, Polycarpos Georghadjis). Through the intermediary of the Turkish-Cypriot member of the CMP, the relatives submitted this additional information to the CMP in the hope of finding out what really happened to the missing persons. According to the applicants, a number of requests were made to the CMP to conduct an effective investigation into the fate of the first applicant and his friend. However, there was no response to their requests and no hint of any effective investigation having been undertaken. The third applicant wrote to Amnesty International in London. He stated in his letter that all of their enquiries had so far borne no results and that the Greek-Cypriot Administration had persistently refused to investigate the matter. Amnesty International answered by saying that it appeared that while the CMP may have investigated quite a number of cases submitted to it, it has not been able to bring any of these investigations to a conclusion because the Committee members have been unable to come to an agreement about the Committee’s working methods. The accidental discovery of human remains in 1996 in the Kato Pyrgos region raised a hope for the applicants. However, a scientific report drafted by an American company, following the study of a bone sample, concluded that the individuals whose remains had been found had lived between 1030 and 1240 AD. On 2 March 2001 the Office of the Greek Cypriot Member of the CMP sent to the CMP the following letter: “I am referring to the human remains which were accidentally discovered four years ago in Kato Pyrgos. My letter dated 10.12.1999, as well as your letter dated 14.4.2000 on this issue, are hereby appended for any reference. Further to a conversation you had with Mr Georgiades concerning recent developments on the matter, I wish to inform you that on two separate occasions, members of the team of the Physicians for Human Rights, assisted by our investigating officer and myself, searched the area for additional skeletal remains. All remains were subsequently taken to the laboratory of the Physicians for Human Rights in Cyprus for anthropological analysis, and for decent keeping. Moreover, skeletal samples were sent to a laboratory in U.S. for specialised tests in order to ascertain the period that the remains were buried. The report of the laboratory concerning the remains is appended, as well as a letter by Dr W. Hagkund Director PHR Cyprus Project. We would be most grateful if you could inform accordingly the Office of the Turkish Cypriot Member of the CMP of this development. We strongly suggest that the Turkish Cypriot family, which claimed in the press that the remains might belong to their missing father, should also be informed of the results of the scientific analysis by you too. We are at your entire disposal for any further information ...”.