Former Turkish Cypriot MEP Kizilyurek says he feels shame over Isaac, Solomou killings

Local Cyprus problemnorth cyprusTop NewsTurkish Cypriots Former Turkish Cypriot MEP Kizilyurek says he feels shame over Isaac, Solomou killings Niazi Solomou Isaak Relevant News British Bases Police announce zero-tolerance policy for bird trapping season 19 August 2026 Things to do on Wednesday, August 19 19 August 2026 Former Turkish Cypriot MEP Kizilyurek says he feels shame over Isaac, Solomou killings 19 August 2026 newsroom 19 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Former Turkish Cypriot AKEL MEP Niyazi Kizilyurek said on Tuesday that he feels shame over the 1996 killings of Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomou. Isaac, 24, and his cousin Solomou, 26, were killed three days apart in August 1996 in the UN-controlled buffer zone near Deryneia. Isaac was beaten to death on August 11 during clashes that broke out when demonstrators, in Cyprus for a wider anti-occupation motorcycle rally, pushed towards the buffer zone. Solomou was shot and killed on August 14, after Isaac’s funeral, while climbing a flagpole at a Turkish military post in an apparent attempt to remove the Turkish flag. In 2008, the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey responsible for violating the right to life in Solomou’s killing. In the post, he writes that his conscience ached “as a human being” in the summer of 1996, and that he felt shame as a Turkish Cypriot, since the killers acted in the name of the entire Turkish Cypriot community. He goes on to describe the events of that August, speaking of a “ritual of death” that he says was organised by the “official authorities” in the occupied north. He also notes that Turkish Cypriot journalists had been warned in advance by the occupation authorities that they would not be permitted to write about or photograph everything they would see. Kizilyurek’s post is reproduced below in full: “The summer that Tasos and Solomos were killed, I felt great shame! That summer, Kutlu Adali was killed first. Then, the horrific acts of violence that followed one after another meant that the hot, yellowed August of 1996 would go down in history as a pitch-black month. That August, Greek Cypriot motorcyclists in the Deryneia area managed to slip past UN soldiers and entered the buffer zone. They began advancing towards the soldiers, police officers and “fully armed citizens” positioned opposite them. After they had come close enough, they began to run back, but got caught in barbed wire. Men with clubs, running behind them, beat the Greek Cypriots to death. It was a horrifying image. A young man, tangled in the barbed wire and unable to escape, was being lynched with clubs. Television stations were broadcasting this scene of savagery live. Three days later, the funeral of Tasos Isaac took place. The funeral, held in deep silence and black grief, was to end in a terrifying scene. Solomos Solomou, a relative of Tasos, joined a group after the funeral that moved north and reached the northern edge of the buffer zone. With a cigarette in his mouth, he began climbing the pole from which the Turkish flag flew. Television stations broadcast this live as well. Suddenly, Solomos slipped down from the pole he had climbed and collapsed to the ground. The young man had fallen dead from gunfire opened from the north, like a bird shot during a hunt. That summer, they poured salt into the wounds of Greek Cypriots. The “ritual of death” in Deryneia had been organised by the official authorities. Violent “nationalist” groups had been brought to the island as a measure against Greek Cypriot demonstrators. The journalists who gathered on August 11 in front of the Turkish Cypriot Information Office had been warned in advance: “This is a special day. Today you cannot write everything you see, nor photograph everything you see. Don’t forget that we have all your names on record.” The journalists would understand exactly what these words meant when they reached the area of the incidents. One journalist, seeing people wandering along the ceasefire line carrying flags with the three crescents, clubs and hunting rifles, asked: “What’s going on, are we hunting?” A bystander replied: “Today, every kind of hunting is permitted.” The worst of it all was that Denktas, after the brutal killing of Tasos Isaac, hosted at his presidential residence those who had grown tired from the “hunt,” offered them lemonade to cool off, and, amid chants of “Basbug Denktas” (“Leader Denktas”), declared brazenly to the press: “We will not give you our land!” That summer, as a human being my conscience ached, and as a Turkish Cypriot I felt shame. Because the killers acted in the name of all Turkish Cypriots. I know well that in this country there is no culture of apology. But when Tasos Isaac was killed, his daughter was still in her mother’s womb. I believe it is a debt owed by all of us to ask for forgiveness, at least from the orphaned girl who came into the world with the name Anastasia.” Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News British Bases Police announce zero-tolerance policy for bird trapping season Things to do on Wednesday, August 19 August rainfall proves highly beneficial, with 62mm falling in a single day Cyprus tourist arrivals fall 1.1% in July as Israel surge offsets European declines Jet ski accident reveals delay in new Cyprus boating rules South Korea minister says Trump appears to be pressuring Seoul over Iran, investment Cyprus, Bulgaria among Iran’s potential targets in Europe, FT reports Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.