Thirty years after the murders of Tassos Isaac and Solomos Solomos, at a deeply moving ceremony in Paralimni, the family, the state, political leaders, and hundreds of citizens honored the memory of the two young men, bringing the call for justice and freedom back to the forefront.
The event was attended by the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, and other members of the government; the Speaker of the House, Anita Dimitriou, representatives of the parliamentary parties, the Church, local government, the National Guard, and the Police, as well as Members of the European Parliament Geadis Geadis and Pheidias Panagiotou. Also present were the families of the two heroes, members of the Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative, and motorcyclists from Cyprus and Greece.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The highlight of the evening was the unveiling of the new monument to Tassos Isaac and Solomos Solomos in Paralimni. Thirty motorcyclists—one for each year since the murders—symbolically carried the flame of remembrance from the site of the sacrifice in Deryneia to the birthplace of the two heroes.
Pain became a voice, and grief became a struggle
Particularly moving was the speech by Anastasia Isaac, daughter of Tassos Isaac, who emphasized that she was not at the event merely to speak, but also to mourn.
“Thirty years ago, before I was even born, I was deprived of the most precious gift a child can have: his father’s embrace,” she said.
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Anastasia Isaac emphasized that her father was not armed, but a man who rushed to help a fellow human being. Thirty years later, she said, none of his murderers have been held accountable.
“The pain became a voice, and the grief became a struggle,” she noted, before passionately stating her demand: “I demand justice. I demand freedom.”
She linked her father’s sacrifice to the victims of the invasion and occupation, the families of the missing, and others who lost their lives on the front lines.
In closing, she promised that remembrance would not turn into silence. “And if the government doesn’t send us the dolphins, we’ll find them ourselves. And we’ll swim with them, from Paphos to Kyrenia,” he said.
A people that forgets risks becoming accustomed to injustice
Also moving was the speech by Andreas Frixos, the younger brother of Solomos Solomos, who spoke of the personal void his murder left in the family.
As he noted, as children they could not fully grasp the historical significance of the sacrifice. They knew only that “a person was missing” and that at every family gathering there was a seat that remained empty.
As they grew older, he said, they came to understand that Solomos belongs not only to his family but to the collective memory of Cyprus.
“A people that forgets risks becoming accustomed to injustice,” he said, emphasizing that the occupation can never become normal.
Andreas Frixou expressed his hope that children born today will come to know Solomos’s principles and values and grow up in a free Cyprus, without occupation or barbed wire.
Addressing his uncle, he pledged that the struggle would continue until the day the flag of the Republic of Cyprus is raised once again at the Kyrenia Castle.
Paralimni continues to await justice
In his remarks, the Mayor of Paralimni-Deryneia, George Nikoletos, described Isaac and Solomou as “two sons of Paralimni” who became symbols of an entire people.
He emphasized that thirty years later, their hometown continues to await justice and accountability for their murders.
The mayor made special mention of the new monument, noting that it now stands in the hometown of the two heroes as a “beacon of remembrance” and a landmark commemorating all the sacrifices of Hellenism.
At the same time, he praised the work of the Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative and its tour this year in Cyprus and Greece, emphasizing that the memory of the two young men has transcended the boundaries of their hometown.
“The true end of the journey lies in Kyrenia,” he said, emphasizing that the motorcyclists’ journey will be complete when the road home is once again free.
Memory as an “act of resistance”
On behalf of the Isaac-Solomos Memory Initiative, Kyriakos Giagou emphasized that remembrance is not limited to anniversaries, but is preserved through the people who pass on historical truth from generation to generation.
“Memory is not revenge; it does not serve hatred. Memory is responsibility; it is the refusal to forget,” he said, describing memory as an “act of resistance” and forgetting as “submission.”
Mr. Yagou also called on the Republic of Cyprus to take more vigorous action to execute the international arrest warrants and to bring the perpetrators of the murders of Isaac and Solomos to justice.
“We do not want bitterness to be passed down to future generations. We are asking that the historical truth be handed down to them, so that they may build a peace based on justice and not a peace based on oblivion,” he said.
In closing, he assured that the Initiative will continue its efforts “until justice is served,” with the ultimate goal, as he put it, “to bring Tassos’s motorcycle to Kyrenia.”
A representative of the Leonidio Motorcycle Club, who had arrived from Greece as part of a delegation participating in the Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative’s road trip and spoke about the values and ideals of the two heroes.
Memorial Initiative Pilgrimage
During the event, this year’s tour of the Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative was also presented, with stops in Greece and Cyprus. Ano Kerynia in Achaea, Karavas on Kythira, Salamis, Rhodes, Kastelorizo, Ro, and Leonidio were the key stops on a route designed to carry the memory of the two heroes and Cyprus’s message to the entire Greek world.
The event concluded with a roll call of the fallen, a motorcycle parade, the National Anthem, and the laying of wreaths by the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Metropolitan Vasilios of Constantia and Famagusta, the Mayor of Paralimni-Deryneia, the daughter of Tassos Isaac, Anastasia, Solomos Solomos’s father, Spyros, and the Isaac-Solomos Memorial Initiative.
Source: CNA
