Article about recent events in Cyprus.

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

TURKS KILL TWO UNARMED GREEK CYPRIOT DEMONSTRATORS

Two unarmed Greek Cypriot protesters were deliberately killed in Cyprus by Turkish troops, so-called Turkish Cypriot "police" and extremists who arrived from mainland Turkey, in two separate incidents on 11 and 14 August 1996.

In the first incident, Anastasios Isaac was battered to death with iron bars and spiked clubs in the United Nations-patrolled buffer zone near the coastal town of Dherynia.

The attackers, who had been transported with 1,000 other persons in buses to a prohibited military zone in the Turkish-occupied area, were allowed by the Turkish occupying forces to enter the buffer zone where hundreds of Greek Cypriot demonstrators had gathered to protest against the occupation of the northern part of the island.

Initially 7,000 Greek Cypriot motorcyclists together with some 200 European bikers planned to hold a rally in Cyprus to focus attention on human rights violations by Turkey which has occupied 37% of the island since it invaded in 1974 and is barring Greek Cypriots from returning to their homes and moving about freely in their own country. Their slogan was : "A World Without Frontiers".

The starting-point of the rally was Berlin - chosen for its obvious symbolism as a formerly divided capital. Many bikers set off from the German city nine days before the scheduled rally and arrived in Cyprus by boat on the eve of the event. Accompanied by delegations of bikers from 15 European countries and from the United States and Canada, they rode freely through nine European countries without obstruction.

The rally was called off the last minute by its organisers following an appeal from President Clerides who said he had reliable information that the event would be used as a pretext for the Turkish army to advance and occupy more territory. After the decision was announced, a group of demonstrators made their way to Dherynia where many refugees from the occupied town of Famagusta now live. Isaac, from a refugee family himself, was among the protesters who crossed into the buffer zone manned by the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). He was caught in barbed-wire barricades and was set upon as he tried to retreat. His head was smashed as the frenzied mob and Turkish Cypriot "police" laid into him. He was one of two demonstrators who, an UNFICYP report confirmed, was beaten "with brutal force".

About three thousand members of the ultra-nationalist "Grey Wolves" organisation and its affiliated association "Idealist Hearths" were specially brought over from Turkey to join Turkish troops and Turkish Cypriot "police" deployed along the cease-fire line. The Turkish Cypriot paper YENIDUZEN reported on 12 August that the Turkish Cypriot "police" had "demonstrated extensive tolerance and turned a blind eye to the Idealist Hearths militants who were carrying iron clubs, bars, stones and chains used in battles as well as firearms" as they entered the buffer zone. Some of these were among Isaac's assailants. Dozens more Greek Cypriots were wounded, two seriously, as they were mercilessly beaten or shot at from behind the cease-fire line.

After the killing, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, was reported to have thanked the "Idealists" for coming from Turkey and giving their support.

The killing of Solomos Solomou

The second incident occurred three days later (August 14), after Isaac's funeral. A group of Greek Cypriot mourners went to the buffer zone in Dherynia to lay wreaths at the site where Isaac had died.

An UNFICYP report observed that as the Greek Cypriot mourners made their way into the buffer zone Turkish forces and Turkish Cypriot "military" and "police" deployed in full view and in added strength along the cease-fire line. UNFICYP requested them "to exercise restraint and not to over-react". It also reminded them that "UNFICYP has sole responsibility to deal with incursions into the buffer zone and that there must be no interference."

The appeal was ignored and as a second cousin of Isaac, Solomos Solomou, climbed a flagpole flying the Turkish flag close to the cease-fire line, a flare went up as a signal to fire and he was immediately shot at by a Turkish or Turkish Cypriot "soldier" and other Turks from a number of directions. He fell to the ground and died instantly.

The autopsy later revealed he had been hit by five bullets. "Turkish or Turkish Cypriot soldiers then proceeded to fire some 25 to 50 rounds indiscriminately into the crowd inside the buffer zone", the UNFICYP report noted.

Two British UNFICYP soldiers in the buffer zone were shot in the back and several Greek Cypriots also suffered injuries, including a woman. She was gravely wounded by gunfire while standing in the Government-controlled area outside the buffer zone.

The UNFICYP report on the incident described the use of force by Turkish troops and Turkish Cypriot "military personnel" as "totally unwarranted". The UN Security Council and officials, the United States, the European Union, Britain and other governments denounced the killings.

A group of US Congressmen expressed their outrage and revulsion and called for punitive sanctions against Turkey.

The Spokesman of the US State Department, Mr Nicholas Burns, described the killings and injuring of civilians and UN peace-keepers "unwarranted and unjustified" and the reaction of the Turkish forces as "disproportionate to the events".

The human rights organization Amnesty International also condemned the murders and urged for prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into the deaths of the two men in conformity with the UN Code of Conduct.

Foreign government officials have stressed the urgent need for a just and viable solution which would eliminate a potential source of conflict.

The Cyprus Government is pursuing a peaceful settlement based on the UN resolutions and European principles which would ensure peace and stability in Cyprus and the region.

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