They called him crazy. And what hero wasn't “crazy” –? 28 years since the murder of Solomos
By Manolis Kalatzis
They called him crazy. And what hero wasn't “crazy”.
What logic can push a 26-year-old into a mast while being pointed at by dozens of guns? Solomon Solomon, on August 14, 1996, after the funeral of Tasos Isaac, closed his ears to the voices for self-restraint and “reason”. He took two puffs from his cigarette and left.
“Get back you moron…” was the voice that tried to bring him to his senses. He didn't hear her or rather ignored her. The last moments of his short life froze Cyprus that was glued to the televisions watching “live” the demonstration at the Deryneia roadblock. The same image froze the entire world and has been haunting us all ever since. Why? The answer could only be given by Solakis himself, but he preferred to take it with him.
In the cold
But answers could be given by those who took a human life to confirm a story of barbarism. As elementary school students, they blame their “achievement” on each other and do not dare to ask for an apology. But who will forgive them?
Kenan Akin, a settler, former “Minister of Agriculture” of the Denktash regime, pulled the trigger marking the “leventia” that he himself never had. He may have hit Solomos with one of the bullets, but he didn't manage to get out of the pack of subhumans. Solomou fell dead under the flag of occupation and in an instant became for some a symbol and for others a personification of irresponsibility.
Nothing has changed since then. Occupation remains occupation, settlers, settlers, the missing, although they have dwindled, they remain missing.
Source: cyprustimes.com
