His funeral took place on August 14, 1996 Tasou Isaac, who had been beaten to death by Turkish Cypriots three days earlier in the dead zone near Deryneia, during an anti-occupation demonstration by Cypriot motorcyclists.
Read also: Eugenios Papageorgiou: "My last hours with Tassos Isaac" (VIDEO)
Shortly after the funeral, several of those present staged a demonstration and re-entered the dead zone from the same spot to pay tribute to Isaac, laying wreaths and flowers at the scene of his assassination. Among the protesters was 26-year-old Solomos Solomou, Isaac's second cousin. He was a refugee from Famagusta and lived in Paralimni.
Around 2:20 pm, Solomou disarmed the crowd and headed for a nearby Turkish outpost. With a cigarette in his mouth and ignoring the warnings of the Turkish soldiers, he began to climb the flagpole, intending to lower the Turkish flag. At the same time, three shots were fired by the occupiers and the young man fell dead.
He had received three bullets, one in the mouth, one in the throat and one in the stomach, which proved fatal. Other shots were fired, slightly injuring 11 people, including two Blue Helmets. The funeral of Solomos Solomos took place on August 16, 1996, in Paralimni, in the presence of a large crowd, who condemned the Turkish barbarism, as he had done three days earlier with the cowardly assassination of Tassos Isaac.
On August 17, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis visited Cyprus, describing the murderers of Solomos as common criminals. At the same time, the Turkish Prime Minister, Tansu Ciller, was in the occupied territories, speaking in front of a crowd of Turkish Cypriots, fully justifying the act, saying that the Turks would cut off the hands of anyone who offends the national symbol. The answer came from US State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns, who said that "human life is more important than a piece of cloth."
The Cypriot Police, based on visual material (television and photographic), managed to identify the perpetrators of the murder of Solomos and issued an international arrest warrant for them:
- Kenan Akin, Minister of Agriculture of the pseudo-state.
- Erdal Hatziali Emanet, head of special forces in the occupied territories.
- Attila Sat, Chief of Police of the Occupied Territories.
- Hassan Kundaxi, lieutenant general of the occupying forces. Mehmet Karli, brigadier general
- of the occupying forces.
In October 2004, Akin admitted to killing Solomon, but justified himself by ordering Khalil Sandrazam, then commander of the island's occupying forces. In his statements, Sandrazam denied the allegations made by Akin, who was later arrested by the Turkish authorities for smuggling, but was released on a warrant from above.
On June 24, 2008, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found Turkey guilty of killing Solomos Solomos under Article 2 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. He also awarded monetary compensation to his family.
Solomos' self-sacrifice inspired many Greek artists. Dionysis Savvopoulos dedicated an older song to him, "Ode to Georgios Karaiskakis", while the lyricist George Alkaios dedicated the song "Panta Gelastoi", composed by Thanos Mikroutsikos and sung by Dimitris Mitropanos. Stelios Rokos wrote the music for the song "Gia ton Solomos Solomou" (lyrics by Nikos Gritsis) and Notis Sfakianakis sang "Itan Trelos", with lyrics by Christos Kretsovalis and music by Vassilis Dimas.