Anastasia Isaac demanded justice and freedom for her father Tasos Isaac at a memorial event held in Paralimni, Cyprus. She told attendees that 30 years ago, before she was born, she was deprived of her father's embrace.
Describing the conditions under which her father died, she said he was not holding a weapon but was trying to help a fellow human being. She criticized the lack of accountability three decades later, stating that pain had turned into a voice and grief into a struggle.
Linking her loss to families of missing persons and invasion victims, she said memory will not be silenced. She added that if the state does not send dolphins, they will find them and swim from Paphos to Kyrenia.
Family Remembrances and New Monument
Andreas Frixou, nephew of Solomos Solomou, also spoke about the void left by loss in their family. He said that as children they only knew someone was missing and that an empty chair remained at every family gathering.
Frixou said a people that forgets risks becoming accustomed to injustice and that occupation cannot be considered normal. He expressed hope that younger generations will grow up free of barbed wire, promising that the struggle will continue until the flag of the Republic of Cyprus flies over Kyrenia castle.
The event included the presentation of a new monument honoring Isaac and Solomou. Thirty motorcyclists carried a flame from the site of their sacrifice in Deryneia to their hometown to mark the years passed since the murders.
Paralimni-Deryneia Mayor Giorgos Nikolettos said the two men have become symbols for all Hellenism and described the monument as a beacon of memory. Referring to the Memory Initiative, he pointed out that the true finish line of their journey lies in Kyrenia.
