Cyprus is marking this week the brutal murders of Tasos Isaak and Solomos Solomou, the cousins who were murdered by Turkish mobs and police in August of 1996 in Deryneia.
It was a period of heightened tensions on the Mediterranean island 22 years after the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus.
Anastasios “Tasos” Isaak was a Greek Cypriot refugee who participated in an August 11, 1996, civilian demonstration in Deryneia against Turkey’s military occupation of the island.
During a confrontation in the UN buffer zone between the demonstrators and individuals from the Turkish “Grey Wolves” group, Isaak suddenly found himself trapped in barbed wire. None of his fellow protesters had noticed that he had been left behind the main group.
Soon, a large group of Grey Wolves, a Turkish far-right political movement, ran toward Isaak and attacked him. Unchallenged by the nearby UN peacekeepers, the Turkish officers continued brutally beating the protestor for several minutes.
By the time Greek Cypriots, aided by the UN peacekeepers, managed to drag Isaak away from the mob, he was dead. According to video footage that captured the attack, a number of Turkish Cypriot policemen were also seen beating him viciously.
Solomou was murdered a few days later
Solomos Solomou was murdered just a few days later, on August 14, in the aftermath of the funeral of Tasos Isaak.
He was originally from the town of Famagusta, which fell under the control of the Turkish military as a result of the Turkish invasion of 1974. Like hundreds of thousands of other Cypriots, Solomou and his family became internally displaced persons. They fled to the nearby town of Paralimni, where he grew up with other Greek-Cypriot refugees.
Solomou, Isaak’s second cousin, was shot and killed in cold blood by a Turkish officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag flying there in Cyprus’ United Nations Buffer Zone.
The entire horrific scene was recorded by nearby journalists and was broadcast live on television at the time.
The commander of the Turkish army’s special forces in the occupied territories of Cyprus, Hasan Kundakci, admitted later that he ordered the assassination.
”We warned him three times. He ignored us. I gave a final order to the commander of the area. It was clear what he would do following my order. I raised my hand and shouted fire,” Kundakci said in an interview recently.
”If the flag goes down we can not stop there. I do not want to be the commander who has let the flag go down. I am a man who is ready to die for the flag, who respects the flag,” the Turkish army officer said.
Solomou’s funeral, held on August 16 in Paralimni, was attended by thousands of people and it was commemorated as an official day of mourning on Cyprus.
The photo of Solomou climbing the Turkish flagpole has often been used as a symbol of protest against Turkey’s military occupation of northern Cyprus. He was praised by several Greek politicians, and several prominent Greek composers and singers dedicated their songs to him.
Related: 50th Anniversary of Turkish Invasion of Cyprus: Greeks Mourn, Turks Celebrate
