Cyprus’ political great and good on Monday offered tributes to Sevgul Uludag, the renowned journalist who died aged 67 on Sunday.

President Nikos Christodoulides said that Uludag had “highlighted with sensitivity and dedication the humanitarian plight of the missing persons of the Cyprus tragedy and worked consistently for the peaceful coexistence of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in a free homeland, without an occupying army”.

Likewise, Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman said that “we will never forget you, your efforts, your superhuman dedication”.

His predecessor Mustafa Akinci was the first to make reference to the circumstances surrounding Uludag’s death, saying, “I do not think anyone outside of her closest relatives knew of the seriousness of her illness”.

“Sevgul leaves behind a great void. Unfortunately, there is no other journalist who, with such persistence and determination, could have investigated, questioned and contributed to uncovering the issue of missing persons, a bleeding wound for Cyprus,” he said.

Former Turkish Cypriot leader Dervish Eroglu’s wife Meral Eroglu said that “I have lost a very courageous person who stood by me during the most difficult times of my life”, but that “I was not the only one who lost”.

Disy wrote that Uludag had “dedicated almost her entire life to the fight to find and clarify the fate of the missing, heroically resisting all types of threats and waging a fight through the years for coexistence between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots”.

“She truly believed in reconciliation,” it added.

Akel, meanwhile, described her as “a fighter for peace in Cyprus and for reconciliation between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots”.

“Sevgul’s action contributed decisively to clarifying the fate of many missing persons, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. She stood out for her insistence on a humanitarian approach to the issue of the missing persons as well as for her work to heal the open wounds of relatives and both communities more broadly,” it said.

It added that she “did not back down or fear the threats she received from extreme, chauvinist circles”, and that she was “engaged in highlighting the historical truth about all aspects of the Cypriot tragedy and the pain suffered by both communities”.

The CTP, the party of which she was a member, spoke of “deep sorrow” at her death, while party leader Sila Usar Incirli said that Uludag “bravely pursued the truth”.

“You approached the losses and their loved ones with respect, you helped families who lived in uncertainty for years to mourn and say goodbye to their loved ones,” she said.

In a career that spanned over four and a half decades, Uludag devoted herself to the cause of Cyprus’ missing, the more than 2,000 people left unaccounted for after intercommunal violence in the 1960s and the Turkish invasion in 1974.

She was meticulous in this endeavour, frequently uncovering detailed accounts of the lives and deaths of the missing, which were then published in both Turkish and Greek in the Yeniduzen and Politis newspapers.

For this work, she was acclaimed at home and abroad, becoming the first Cypriot to be awarded the international courage in journalism award in 2008, while also winning the European citizen’s prize in 2014 and being nominated for the Nobel peace prize in 2019.