Greeks Mourn Death Of Protester Turks Kill Man Trying To Remove Their Flag From Buffer Zone
Thousands of Greek Cypriots mourned Friday at the funeral of a protester killed by Turkish troops in the buffer zone running across this divided Mediterranean island.
The deaths of Solomos Solomou, who was killed Wednesday, and his cousin, who was killed three days earlier, have heightened tensions in this nation that has been split into Greek and Turkish sectors since 1974.
Fearing further violence, Greek Cypriot forces reinforced positions on their side of the “Green Line” on Friday while Turkish Cypriots did the same. U.N. peacekeepers set up additional dirt and barbed-wire barricades in the buffer zone.
Church bells pealed as the coffin of Solomou, draped in a Greek flag, arrived at the cathedral in a procession of hundreds of mourners.
As a military band led the procession, hundreds of Greek and Cypriot flags fluttered in the nearby square and the road leading to the Greek Orthodox cathedral in Paralimni, 40 miles southeast of the capital, Nicosia.
Those inside the cathedral applauded when the coffin entered. A placard hung above the cathedral’s gate, proclaiming “freedom or death” in Greek.
Solomou was later buried as several thousand mourners, some carrying Greek flags and shouting “Turks out of Cyprus,” gathered around his grave.
His burial took place after sunset - an extremely rare practice in the Greek Orthodox faith, thought to have been permitted by the church to minimize the possibility of violence after the funeral.
Solomou, 26, was shot as he climbed a flagpole to haul down a Turkish flag on the edge of the U.N.policed buffer zone. His cousin, Tassos Isaac, was beaten to death Sunday by Turkish Cypriots.
Both men were killed in buffer zone protests by stone-throwing Greek Cypriots against Turkey’s occupation of the northern third of Cyprus.
Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 after a short-lived Athens-backed coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared independence on their part of the island in 1983, but they are recognized only by Turkey. The Greek Cypriot government is internationally recognized.
The recent violence has increased tension between Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies.
In his eulogy, Archbishop Chrysostomos, head of the Cyprus Orthodox Church, appealed for an end to the protests, saying they have shown “the barbarity of the Turkish occupation.” Isaac and Solomou are heroes, he proclaimed.
“The objective has been achieved: To awaken the conscience of the world to the injustice that has been going in Cyprus,” he said.