Tassos Isaac

Anastasios (Tassos) Isaac (Greek: Αναστάσιος (Τάσος) Ισαάκ) (1972 - 11 August 1996), was a Greek Cypriot refugee that participated in a civilian demonstration against the turkish occupation of Cyprus with the demand of the complete withdrawal of Turkish troops, and his return to his home. He was murdered by a mob of Grey Wolves in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus. He is considered a national hero in Cyprus and Greece.

Events leading to the assassination

In August 1996, in order to commemorate the 22nd year of Cyprus being a divided country, over 200 bikers from several European countries had organised a rally from Berlin (the last divided city in Europe except Nicosia) to Kyrenia. They left Berlin on the 2nd of August and were planning to arrive at their destination on the 11th where they would be joined by Cypriot bikers. Simultaneously, around 2,500 members of the right-wing organisation Grey Wolves were planning to travel to the occupied north of Cyprus from Turkey in order to confront the European and Cypriot bikers.

Due to heavy political pressure (even by the U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali) being applied to the Cypriot Motorcycle Federation to cancel the 11th August event, CMF finally succumbed. This was met with disapproval by a large portion of the bikers and other protesters, who decided to march on their own. Among them was Tassos Isaac, who together with other demonstrators, entered the UN buffer zone near Dheryneia, just south of the occupied town of Famagusta.

During the confrontaion in the UN buffer zone between the Cypriot bikers and the Turkish Grey Wolves, Isaac found himself trapped in barbed-wire without his co-protesters noticing he was left behind. Soon, a large group of Grey Wolves, realising he was helpless, run towards him and started clubbing, punching, kicking and throwing rocks at him. They continued for several minutes, unchallenged by the nearby UN peacekeepers. By the time the Cypriots managed to take him back from the mob, Isaac was dead. [cite web| url=http://www.hri.org/news/greek/ant1en/1996/96-08-13.ant1en.html| title=Report of the killing from Antenna Radio] .

The funeral and reactions

Tassos Isaac's funeral was held on the 14th of August and was attended by thousands of people. Protests after the funeral led to the assassination of Isaac's cousin, Solomos Solomou.

On the 22nd of November 1996, the Cypriot Police issued international arrest warrants for the murder of Tassos Isaac against Hasim Yilmaz, a Turkish settler and former member of the Turkish Secret Service, Neyfel Mustafa Ergun, a Turkish settler, serving in the illegal Turkish Cypriot police, Polat Fikret Koreli, a Turkish Cypriot from Famagusta, Mehmet Mustafa Arslan, a Turkish settler, leader of the Grey Wolves in the occupied areas and Erhan Arikli, a Turkish settler from the former Soviet Union [cite web| url=http://www.hri.org/news/cyprus/kygtpen/1996/96-11-22.kygtpen.html| title=Report about the arrest warrants from Cyprus Press and Information Office] .

Greek government as godparent

When Isaac was killed, he left behind his pregnant wife. As a token of gratitude for his services to the Greek nation, the Hellenic Republic decided to be the godparent of the yet unborn baby. When the baby girl was born, she was baptised Anastasia (after her father), by the then Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Theodoros Pangalos. The Greek singer Haris Alexiou has dedicated to her the song "Tragoudi tou Helidhoniou" ("Swallow's Song").

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9608/11/cyprus.bikers/index.html CNN report]
* [http://www.mit.edu/~petros/tasos.html Photos of Isaac's murder]