Thirty years ago, the Turkish Cypriot former AKEL Member of the European Parliament and academic Niazi Gilzilgurek had expressed his condemnation of the brutal murders ofIsaac and Solomos Solomos at the Deryneia roadblock—not today, in the controversial post on his personal Facebook account that sparked strong reactions.
Speaking on the “Alpha Summer” show, he explained that during the dark days of August 1996, he had written the same views in a Turkish left-wing newspaper under the pseudonym “Mustafa Yasmin,” and had also included them in one of the books he later published, titled “The Fugitive of Nations.” Mr. Gilzilgurek expressed the view that the Isaac-Solomos murders were the work of “nationalist elements” in Turkey, who at the same time executed Turkish Cypriot and Kurdish activists.
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“I have expressed this view since then, although I had not made it public in Greek or within the Greek Cypriot community. For me, it was a moral obligation and an act of political responsibility to take this step, as an academic and public intellectual. I did it first and foremost for myself because I truly felt ashamed; even though I had no connection to these organizations, we have a responsibility to speak the truth.”
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Mr. Gilzilgurek spoke about the need for a “culture of apology,” pointing out that the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, despite having endured great suffering, continue to monopolize “a piece of the truth.”
“This only fuels ethnic hatred rather than leading to reconciliation. We must also see the other’s pain, and for me, that is a fundamental principle. You must not dwell on your own pain; you must also see the other’s pain.”
When asked to comment on the response by Tassos Isaac’s daughter, Anastasia, to his own post, he described it as respectful but incomplete, arguing that it lumps all Turkish Cypriots together with the word “you.”
“I am not included in this ‘you’ that Anastasia refers to. It is the politicians and the establishment that I have been fighting for decades. And it’s not just me—there are many Turkish Cypriots as well. We need to differentiate our approach. There are Greeks who support a solution and Greeks who oppose it. There are Turks who support a solution and Turks who harbor hatred. If we don’t do this, we won’t make any progress.”
When asked if he agreed with the position that those responsible for the Isaac-Solomos murders should be identified and arrested, the Turkish Cypriot former Member of the European Parliament noted that he is in favor of bringing justice for all crimes committed in the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, citing Santalari, Palai kythro, and Assia as examples.
“We are not a society that brings the perpetrators to trial and then constantly finds them right in front of us. We bury the past, and when we are called upon to act, we make abstract references to the past. No one disagrees that Isaac-Solomos’s murderers should be brought to justice. And I’m not talking about putting people in prison. Perhaps we need a Truth Commission or a policy of apology.”
READ ALSO: “The summer that Tasos and Solomos were murdered, I felt a deep sense of shame… I’m sorry, Anastasia.”
