An old fig tree that grew in an inappropriate environment led Turkish researchers to discover the remains of a Turkish Cypriot man who disappeared decades ago.
Researchers managed to identify the man who went missing decades ago when a fig tree that grew up in an arid region where it is unusual or natural for such trees to grow, caught their attention.
According to the Hurriyet Daily newspaper, the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) has been searching for 2,002 people who disappeared between 1963 and 1974, during which Turkey had invaded the northern region of the Mediterranean island divided between Turkey and Greece.
A team of Turkish researchers found the remains of Ahmet Herguner, whose 87-year-old sister, Munur Herguner, said her brother joined the Turkish resistance organization in 1974 and then he was taken to an unknown place in June of that year.
Herguner said: "For years, we searched for my brother in vain. In 2011, one researcher spotted a fig tree, which usually does not grow in that location as it is a mountainous area, so we became curious."
"The committee recently decided to dig under the tree, where they found three bodies. They collected blood samples. When they compared them with the remains' analysis, they confirmed that one of the bodies was for my brother."
Researchers in the Committee on Missing Persons managed to identify and return the remains of 890 people to their families over the past 12 years.
The Commission started its work in 1981 under an agreement between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish sides under the auspices of the United Nations and its mission is to enlist the names of missing persons and look for them.
