March on the mountain tops of Cyprus in memory of Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomos
Held this morning at the Church of Agios Dimitriou in Paralimni, the 28th national religious memorial of the hero-martyrs Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomos.
The memorial service was presided over by the Bishop of Naples, Porphyrios. The Government was represented by Nikolas Ioannidis, Deputy Minister of Immigration and International Protection
A memorial speech was delivered by Adamos Sergiou, Principal of Paralimni High School.
Mr. Sergiou stated that “with feelings of awe, respect, emotion, and national pride but also anger, bitterness and disappointment, we are today at the Holy Church of Agios Dimitrios in Paralimni to pay the due tribute to two special children of ours, Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomos who were cowardly murdered in a time of peace by the Turkish invaders of our country in August 1996. In the summer of 1996 in the dead zone of Deryneia, the most dramatic events since the Turkish invasion of 1974 happened,” he added.
He said that “the killers of Isaac Solomon have been identified, but no one has been punished for the two heinous crimes of our heroes”.
He noted that “we deserve to give honor and respect to those people who decided to sacrifice their lives for freedom”. devotion to values that transcend self-interest. Against fear in agony and resignation there are few who will recommend mental fortitude and militancy and guide the rest to the supreme duty. History calls these special people heroes”.
He noted that “the sacrifice of Tasos and Solomos illuminated the meaning of our national dignity and highlighted what it means to be nurtured with Greek-Christian values, what it means not to compromise with slavery and to deny the idea of your divided homeland, not to accept the Turkish occupation troops and the barbed wire of shame”.
He underlined that “history teaches us that the peoples who fight for freedom and justice eventually win”.
The best memorial service for the heroes we are honoring today, noted Mr. Sergiou, is to continue their struggle and justify their sacrifice.
This was followed by a trisage at the Paralimni cemetery and the laying of wreaths on the graves of Isaac and Solomon. .
March to the mountain tops of Cyprus in memory of Tassos Isaac and Solomos Solomos
On August 9, 2024, the Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative under the title “Five minus one”, i.e. minus the occupied Pentadaktylos, honored the memory of Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomos with a march that crossed the mountain peaks of free Cyprus.
< p>According to a press release, the march started on Friday evening from Chionistra, where both the motorcyclists and the runners who participated in the march received a flame of freedom and memory. The lighting of the flame had taken place on Mount Olympus in Greece and reached Cyprus to signify the common course of Hellenism, identity and continuity. The flame was also received by the cyclists who started from Kionia, as well as the swimmers who started from Agioi Anargyrou and reached the last point they could, before the sea area of the enclosed city of the occupied Famagusta.
The flame was carried to various parts of the Troodos region, such as Teisia of Madaris by the runners, Kyperounda, Agro and Papoutsa, where it was passed to the people of the community of the heroic Agios Ioannis Pitsilias, to carry it to the top, through a difficult route, late in the evening of the 9th of August. The story was present and grasped from afar, it penetrated the EOKA's ambushes and was connected to the memory of Tasos and Solomos. The motorcyclists continued in Nicosia and at the Tomb of Makedonitissa, as well as at the barricades of Agios Dometios, Ledra Palace and Ledra Street, which were symbolically closed for a certain period of time.
At the Ledra Palace roadblock, the “Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative” took on the responsibility of the Cypriot authorities, local or supreme, by replacing the signs that are there. One sign is about the murders of Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomos, while the other is about the drama of the missing persons of the Turkish invasion. Present, as on the rest of the route, Tasos Isaac's mother, Mrs. Tasoula, as well as his 28-year-old daughter Anastasia and his sister.
The first day of the march was initially completed at the Ledras roadblock, in the early hours of August 10, while the big motorcyclist march takes place on Saturday night. The motorcyclists are expected to arrive at the Paralimni cemetery to welcome the runners, swimmers and cyclists. There will be a trisage in memory of the two heroes and a modest event. The trek will end at the Deryneia roadblock, where a number of participants will spend the night to attend the 28th annual Tasos and Solomos memorial service on Sunday, August 11.
Isaac and Solomou murders: Solomou's sister and the representative of the memorial initiative A.Michailidis speak at KYPE
With the death of Solomou Solomou has been missing for 28 years a part of our family's life, Skevi Solomou, sister of the man murdered by the Turks on August 14, 1996, told KYPE.
He added that “a whole 28 years have passed since the murder of Solakis and both I and the rest of the family are missing a piece of us. I don't believe and after all these years, I still can't realize that he is gone, since I think it was yesterday that he was murdered by the Turks”.
Solomos, continued, “told us that he was going to take down the Turkish flag from the outpost but we didn't think he would dare to do it. On the day of my brother's murder, I was working, I listened to what was happening on the radio and when it was reported that a person named Solakis had been beaten, my mind did not go to my brother,” he said.
However, he continued “when we went to the Hospital I learned from the evil mantas that they had killed my brother. “Solomos was sorry that the Turkish invasion was the reason we lost our home, became refugees and had a hard time and that the difficulties we were going through were because of the war,” he noted.
When asked how the family feels about the memorial march organized every year, since 2008 by the Isaac-Solomou Memorial Initiative, Mrs. Solomou replied that “they are the only people I want to thank because they are the only ones who do not forget us, they march in memory of my brother and Tasos and are always by our side. I really congratulate them and admire them very much for what they are doing and honoring our two heroes,” he said.
At the same time, he expressed “bitterness and disappointment over the fact that the state did not stand by us all these years and I cannot understand why a place has not been found to date to erect a monument in memory of Solomon and Tassos, despite the efforts of two families. However, next week, together with Tasos' family, we have a meeting with the new Mayor of Paralimni – Deryneia, Giorgos Nicolettos, to see a specific place for the construction of a monument”.
We consider, he continued, “unjustified for 28 years without a monument in Paralimni for its two heroes”.
Alekos Michaelidis, representative of the Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative, speaking at KYPE, referred to the history of the anti-occupation march for Cyprus, organized in 1996 by the Cypriot Motorcyclist Federation, with the participation of motorcyclists from 12 European countries, including Greece, which started symbolically , from the former divided Berlin to end in occupied Kyrenia.
He said that “the reason for the march was the 22nd anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and we started on August 2, 1996, with the participation of about 150 motorcyclists from various countries from Berlin, to continue in the Balkans, in Thessaloniki and then in Cyprus . The march arrived with great difficulty on August 7 in Thessaloniki, since the route was very difficult due to weather conditions and despite the fact that at the borders of some countries, an issue had arisen with the passage of motorcyclists”.
And while, he continued, “the march of motorcyclists was taking place in Europe, a whisper was growing in Cyprus about how the Turks would deal with the march that would end up in occupied Deryneia. Both the Cypriot government and the press began to leak information regarding the treatment of the motorcyclists by the Turks, while the occupying leader at the time, Rauf Denktash, began the threats, the main one being that any motorcyclist who crosses the Green Line will be shot.”
He added that “the march finally ended with a boat from Piraeus to the port of Limassol on August 10. According to the plans, the motorcyclists would gather near the Deryneia roadblock on August 11, facing the foreigners, the Greeks and the thousands of Cypriots, for to pass to occupied Kyrenia, as a symbolic and peaceful movement of liberation”.
As Mr. Michaelidis said, “the motorcyclists put forward the position that they had no intention of clashing with the Police, nor with the United Nations, since the march was peaceful. The then President of the Republic Glaukos Cleridis tried to indirectly convince the motorcyclists to cancel the march, which was finally aborted after a meeting he had with the President of the Cyprus Motorcycle Federation Giorgos Chatzikostas, telling him among other things that the Turks would take advantage of the march to occupy the dead zone and that Cyprus would be in danger”.
However, he noted, “what the Cypriot government managed to do was to break up the very good organization that the Cypriot Motorcycle Federation had and send the motorcyclists to different parts of the dead zone, divided into groups and without leadership. As a result, groups of motorcyclists were heading from Lefkotheo, from where on August 11 they would start with the destination of the Deryneia roadblock, towards various parts of the dead zone”.
Asked about the foreign motorcyclists, he said that “they returned to their hotels since no one guaranteed them that there would be an organized march to occupied Kyrenia and their delegation arrived at Ledra Palas in the late afternoon of August 11, asking the occupying regime to leave it to go to Kyrenia. However, the occupying authorities demanded recognition of the pseudo-state in order to allow them to cross, which was not accepted by the foreign motorcyclists, who eventually left”.
At the same time, he said “in various areas of the dead zone, such as SOPAZ and Ledra Palace in Nicosia but also in Achna, incidents had broken out with motorcyclists. In Deryneia, the greatest tension prevailed between the motorcyclists with the Gray Wolves and Turkish Cypriots armed with crowbars, axes and even shotguns”.
The result, he noted, was that “some people were trapped in the barbed wire of the dead zone, in front of the impassive eyes of the men of the United Nations and the Turks began to beat them mercilessly. The situation got out of hand when Tasos Isaac, 24 years old at the time, tried to help a friend of his, who was being beaten by the Turks, was attacked and fell to the ground, causing a large number of Turks and Turkish Cypriots to gather around him. Tasos experienced all the ferocity and brutality of a mob of Turks, Turkish Cypriots and members of the so-called police of the pseudo-state, including Erhan Arikli, later an official of the occupying regime,” he said.
The funeral of Tasos Isaac, Mr. Michaelidis continued, “was held at the church of Agios Dimitrios in Paralimni on August 14, after it had already been postponed by the Cypriot government three times, fearing new episodes. The funeral was attended by a delegation of foreign and Greek motorcyclists who laid a wreath and expressed their shock at the death of the 24-year-old.
Tasos Isaac's funeral, he continued, “was silent but the rage and anger simmered. After the burial at the Paralimni cemetery, the participants marched to the site of his murder to lay a wreath and place a black ribbon, when suddenly Solomos Solomou, 26, a cousin of Tassos, stepped in front of the rest of the crowd shouting “let's go down, let's go to drop their flags”.
Solis, as he was known, said Mr. Michaelidis, “went forward and after passing some barbed wire of the occupying army, he climbed the mast where the Turkish flag was to take it down, when three shots were heard from the opposite guard post, from where Rauf Denktas was and with a gun held by Kenan Akin, then the so-called minister of agriculture of the pseudo-state. Solomon fell from the flagpole, hit by bullets in the neck and shoulder, and his death occurred a few seconds later. several people who were in the area but not seriously. The protesters left after the withdrawal of Solomon's body and everything stopped there,” he said.
The representative of the Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative also stated that “the Attorney General of the Republic in cooperation with the lawyers of the two families issued international arrest warrants for ten people, as wanted for the murders of Tasos and Solomos, including members of the occupying army and the pseudo-state. However, to this day there is the question why these arrest warrants are not executed in order to punish those responsible for the murder of the two heroes of Paralimni” he concluded.
