NICOSIA: Cyprus returned the remains of 10 Greek nationals to their families on Tuesday, more than three decades after they were killed during conflict on the Mediterranean island.

The men, found in unmarked graves, were victims of fighting in 1974 when Turkey invaded the island in response to a Greek-inspired coup in Nicosia. Two of the men were officially registered as missing in action.

Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos paid tribute to the 10 at a brief ceremony in the presence of Greek deputy defence minister Constantinos Tasoulas.

The remains will be returned to Greece.

Cyprus’s ethnic Greek and Turkish communities have lived divided lives since the invasion, with peace talks stalled since 2004.

Both sides say up to 2,000 people are unaccounted for from the violence in 1974 and intercommunal clashes in the 1960s.

The Committee for Missing Persons, a UN committee mandated with investigations, has exhumed the remains of some 379 individuals from several recently discovered mass graves and is returning remains to families.—Reuters