It was August 11, 1996, when seven thousand motorcyclists would make the longest anti-occupation march to Kyrenia. The march started on August 2 from the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, crossed Europe, with the aim of internationalizing the problem of invasion and occupation in Cyprus. A number of foreign motorcyclists also participated in the march.
The chaos
Despite the threats of the Turks, and the cancellation of the march by the official lips of the Pancyprian Federation of Motorcyclists after government intervention, a large number headed to the line of ceasefire.
The Turks were waiting with rage
Opposite them, the motorcyclists found armed Turkish soldiers, pseudo-police officers, as well as civilians members of the extremist organization Gray Wolves. The motorcyclists expressed their desire for free passage throughout the territory of Cyprus.
Rauf Dektas, then the occupying leader, had given orders to shoot anyone trying to enter the occupied territories and even mobilized groups of Gray Wolves to confront the motorcyclists.
Episodes occurred in many areas, but in Deryneia the situation was worse. Motorcyclists were confronted by the forces of Dektas, who did not hesitate to shoot at them and hit them.
He was beaten to death
Tassos Isaac, who was in the area, in an attempt to help another Greek Cypriot who was being beaten by the Turks, was attacked and fell. Somewhere there, the sun went out.
Tassos received repeated blows with stones, crowbars and bats, from the angry dogs of Dektas, until he finally cooled down. He left behind his pregnant wife. Mehmet Arsalan, the leader of the Gray Wolves branch in the occupied territories, is said to have been the mastermind of the assassination attempt against Tassos Isaac.
His funeral took place three days later. Black everywhere.
Murderous second act
On the day of Tassos Isaac's funeral, August 14, 1996, a group of protesters marched on the Deryneia roadblock to leave some wreaths and flowers at the scene of the murder.
There the Gray Wolves made their appearance again and soon the scene turned into a battlefield.
Suddenly, Solomos Solomou escaped from the siege of the colonnades, went into the dead zone, and despite the urgings of other Greek Cypriots, tried to climb a mast to lower the Turkish flag. A few seconds later, he was shot in the neck, while at the same time the occupying forces opened fire on the protesters.
The killers are free
One of the killers of Solomos Solomos, Kenan Akin, a settler, former officer of the Turkish army, minister of the pseudo-state and agent of the Turkish secret forces. In 2009, in an interview, he stated that he was unrepentant and that "she would shoot him again". He is wanted by Interpol and the international criminal courts and has been fined 460.000 euros. To date, no one has been arrested.
On June 24, 2008, a European court found Turkey guilty of killing Isaac and Solomos, as it failed to take the necessary steps to find the culprits.
In recent years, the Isaac Solomou Memorial Initiative, by organizing a peaceful procession of motorcyclists, keeps the memory of the two heroes alive and awakens the desire for the liberation of our homeland.
Source: SigmaLive