Antenna News in English 190896

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From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.gr

News in English, of 19/08/1996

TITLE

• Hellenism and the world stunned by Turkish murders in Cyprus.

FUNERAL / SOLOMOU MURDER

But the Turks, unabashed by the international outcry over their brutality, extended the nightmare.

Following Isaak's funeral Wednesday, protestors assembled near the spot where Isaak had been murdered.

26-year-old Solomos Solomou, a refugee from the occupied territory, took his rage into the Turkish zone. And paid with his life. As he tried to lower the Turkish flag over Cyprus, Turkish soldiers murdered him, shooting him three times.

As international fury grew, Turkey once again preened itself over its murderous behaviour. Turkish foreign minister Tansu Ciller visited occupied Cyprus, saying Turkey would mete out the same treatment again.

But Hellenism said it won't take anymore.

On Friday, Hellenism laid Solomos Solomou to rest in Parlimni, Cyprus.

Thousands of people went to the funeral service of Solomos Solomou at the church in Paralimni, in free Ammochostos.

Greek and Cypriot political leaders laid wreathes and paid their respects to a hero who gave his life in the name of freedom, democracy, and justice.

Political Spring leader Antonis Samaras said, "You don't say farewell to a hero, you keep him with you, as you go forward in the struggle".

The struggle to free Cyprus from the yoke of Turkish militarism at last.

But through the suffering, the tears and mourning, the strength and resolve of Hellenism shone through, just as they had shone brightly in the figure of Solomou.

Through the tears, came the strands of the national anthem.

Archbishop of Cyprus Chrisostomos asked Greek leaders to help ensure that the anthem be heard in nearby Kirinia, under Turkish occupation for the last 22 years.

As the young man embarked on his final journey, applause surrounded him. Through the night, his coffin, wrapped in the Greek flag, carried the spirit of Hellenism with it.

SOLOMOU BIOG

Only four years old when the Turks drove his family from their house, Solomos managed to hold on to memories of his home, and life before the invaders came.

It was his passion to return, his passion for justice, that led him to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Solomos Solomou was little more than an infant when the Turks forced his family to flee its home. As a young man living in refugee quarters in Paralimni, he remembered little of the life that had been ripped away from him.

The only keepsakes his family managed to take with them in flight were a number of photographs of the family members and their friends.

Solomos's cousin Antonia says he treasured the pictures. "They evoked the strong emotions of his childhood", she tells Antenna. "They bound him to the house where he was born".

The man who tried never to let go of his roots, could never accept that a brutal occupying force was trying to deprive him an the rest of the refugees of their homes.

Antonia recalls, "He was sad when he came here, and frightened by the bombs and the war. He had one question: Why? Why can't we go home? The adults tried to explain it was because of the Turks".

Outside their refugee home, the Solomou family displays the Greek and Cypriot flags. Everyone hopes that Solomos will be the last to lose his life in the struggle for a free Cyprus.

His father, Spyros, is proud of his son. "His courage made him try to lower the Turkish flag", he says. "That, and the desire to return. His sacrifice shows how barbaric the Turkish invaders are".

The emotion that drove Solomos to make the ultimate sacrifice flows through the veins of all the refugees. His father says this reserved young man was just a little stronger than everyone else.

It is his family that needs strength now. On the uncomprehending faces of his mother and siblings is written the question all Hellenism is asking: can they just kill in cold blood?

CABINET

York, there was a protest outside the Turkish UN offices. And Greek-American leaders are protesting the Turkish atrocities in the US and at the UN.

The Greek and Cypriot governments are launching a diplomatic campaign to denounce Turkish brutality, and Turkey's intransigence over the Cyprus issue.

Prime minister Kostas Simitis made that announcement after discussing the alarming developments in Cyprus with his cabinet Friday.

Reflecting on the bloody week in Cyprus, Greek premier Kostas Simitis said after meeting with his ministers:

"The dramatic events in Cyprus confirm the unmitigated intransigence and provocativeness of Turkey, and make the resolution of the Cyprus problem a priority for Hellenism, because the behaviour of the occupation forces is deprived of every trace of the logic of a legal order; the occupation forces violate every meaning of justice and human rights".

New Democracy leader Miltiades Evert called on the government to call an emergency European Union summit to discuss the Cyprus events. He added that Greece can make no more concessions to Turkish expansionism, and said the United Nations must take its share of responsibility for the Cyprus events, because it's troops failed to intervene to stop the Turkish blood-letting.

United Nations representative Gustav Feisal, who refused to condemn the Turks after the first killing Sunday, was strong in his criticism of the Turks after the murder of Solomos Solomou.

Former Greek prime minister Constantinos Mitsotakis called the murder of the two Greek-Cypriots "a stone in the bog of the Cyprus problem". He also said that the United States has failed to take an interest in resolving the issue.

HOLIDAY

Greece on the 15th of August, the feast of the assumption and armed forces day.

In unity, Greek orthodox Christians celebrated their faith, and renewed their determination to resist the aggression of Turkey.

Orthodoxy celebrated the assumption of the Virgin Mary Thursday.

In the shadow of the Cyprus events, Greeks turned to their faith with renewed vigour. Archbishop of Greece Serafeim led the mass at Athens metropolitan cathedral. Representatives of the political parties were there, including parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis.

In Kastania VermIou, the feast was celebrated in the presence of Greek Olympic winner Giannis Melissanides, the gymnastics gold medalist.

Interior minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos said Hellenism must respond decisively to every attempt by foreign powers to hatch expansionist plans at its expense.

New Democracy leader Miltiades Evert expressed the certainty that the Greek people won't allow Hellenism to lose anymore lands.

On the feast day, and again Friday, as he toured the Cycladic islands, president Kostis Stephanopoulos remembered the heroes in Cyprus.

On Naxos, Mr Stephanopoulos expressed his sorrow over the deaths of the two Greek-Cypriots, and his exasperation at Turkey's behaviour.

Hellenism is concerned about Turkish expansionism not only in Cyprus, but also in the Aegean. The Greek president said that the Turkish threat makes the economic development of all the Greek Aegean islands more urgent than ever.

The tragic events in Cyprus this week dominated discussion at the reception Mr Stephanopoulos held in honour of the nation's armed forces Thursday.

Prime minister Kostas Simitis said: "The inhuman behaviour of the Turks in Cyprus", he told the nation, "is making us step up our efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, and to make it clear to international public opinion that the efforts of the Cypriot people must be supported".

But the prime minister also said calm is needed. Otherwise, Hellenism will play into the hands of its opponents. After Turkey's bold attempt to lay its hands on the Greek isle of Imia in January, and question Greek sovereignty in the Aegean on a number of occasions therafter, Mr Simitis visited a number of western states, pleading Greece's case against Turkey's bullying.

Friday, Mr Simitis said those visits had paid off. "Since the start of the year", he explained, "we've won considerable ground, and must continue our course. Today, I honour the armed forces for their efforts in defending the country. We will continue to strengthen them, so they can deter any attempt to take Greek soil".

© ANT1-Radio 1996

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