Xenophon Kallis, champion of missing persons, dies aged 73

Xenophon Kallis, head of the missing persons service at the foreign ministry for many years, has passed away at the age of 73 after a long battle with cancer, CyBc reported on Sunday.

Kallis, from Dali, dedicated his life to the efforts to the issue of missing persons from 1974 but also from the period of 1963-1964 intercommunal troubles, when many Turkish Cypriots were killed. He was respected on both sides of the divide.

He studied sociology in London, was fluent in the English language and has left a huge body of written work including reports and detailed records on the Cyprus issue and its humanitarian aspects.

In addition to being at the foreign ministry, Kallis was an advisor to the Greek Cypriot representative in the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) and was most recently an adviser to the presidential commissioner for humanitarian affairs.