Identification of Kyriakos Hadjikyriakou Kotsiinis, a victim of the 1974 conflict in Cyprus

Kyriakos Hadjikyriakou Kotsiinis, born in 1901, emigrated to the United States at the age of 18 where he worked in coal mines and lived through the 1929 stock market crash. He returned to Cyprus in 1933 after a 40-day journey via Italy and Egypt, eventually settling in the village of Assia. In 1974, at the age of 73, he was arrested and subsequently murdered alongside approximately 70 other residents from Assia and neighboring areas during the conflict. His remains were discovered years later, but initial identification in Cyprus could not be completed. Fragments of his bones were sent to the United States as part of a larger batch of approximately 2,400 bone fragments belonging to various missing persons. Through two separate handovers, his family received roughly 70 bone fragments to facilitate a proper burial. His grandson, Michalis Pileidis, noted that the process confirmed his grandfather's remains, bringing closure to a long-standing case.