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		</div><p>The remains of recently identified Greek soldiers who fought in Cyprus against invading Turkish troops nearly half a century ago were returned to their families on Thursday.</p>
<p>Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides attended a funeral service at Ayios Panteleimonas Orthodox Church in the capital, Nicosia, for the 15 soldiers before their remains were contained in Greek flag-draped coffins.</p>
<p>Mr Christodoulides said it was the least the state could do to honour and pay respects to the memory of those who died.</p>
<figure id="attachment_182720" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-182720" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/476CE1C9-4CA0-4933-A0D5-B3218BB77C44.webp" alt="" width="640" height="359" class="size-full wp-image-182720" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-182720" class="wp-caption-text">Soldiers carrying the coffins of Greek soldiers whose remains were recently identified, process past Ayios Panteleimonas Orthodox Church in Nicosia (Philippos Christou/AP)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Eight of the 15 soldiers will be reinterred in Greece.</p>
<p>The families of another six opted to have their remains reinterred in a mass grave in Nicosia which stands as the country’s prime monument for the war.</p>
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No family members have been located for one of the soldiers, according to the state broadcaster.</p>
<figure id="attachment_182721" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-182721" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/99197493-7A16-4A9F-B99D-63E2CAE82607.webp" alt="" width="640" height="451" class="size-full wp-image-182721" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-182721" class="wp-caption-text">Family members watch as a soldier leads a guard of honour at the funeral service in Nicosia</figcaption></figure>
<p>Turkey invaded Cyprus in July 1974, a week after supporters of union with Greece mounted a coup backed by the Greek junta then ruling the country.</p>
<p>The invasion resulted in Cyprus’s ethnic divide, with Turkish Cypriots later declaring independence that is only recognised by Turkey, which still maintains more than 35,000 troops in the breakaway north.</p>
<p>Of the 2,002 people who disappeared in 1974 and the preceding decade amid ethnic violence, the remains of 1,033 have been identified and returned to their families since UN-led search efforts began in earnest in 2006.</p>
<p>UN officials said this marks the second-best success rate in the world, after the former Yugoslavia.</p>
<p>A total of 769 Greek Cypriots and 200 Turkish Cypriots are still listed as missing and officials say the passage of time poses a huge challenge.</p>
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