Nicosia: Today marks 30 years since the killing of Tassos Isaac, whose murderers have never been brought to justice. The 24-year-old was killed on August 11, 1996, during an anti-occupation demonstration in the United Nations buffer zone at Dheryneia.
According to Cyprus News Agency, Isaac was among participants in a motorcyclists' rally that had set off from Berlin with the occupied town of Kyrenia as its final destination. When a group of riders reached the buffer zone in Dheryneia on August 11, clashes erupted between demonstrators and Turkish Cypriots, as well as Turkish nationalists, including members of the extremist Grey Wolves organisation.
Amid the violence, Isaac attempted to assist another demonstrator who was under attack. He became trapped inside the buffer zone and fell to the ground. As fellow protesters tried to reach him, he was repeatedly beaten with clubs, stones, and other objects by men on the opposite side of the barbed wire. The assault continued for several minutes while members of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) were present in the area.
Isaac suffered fatal injuries and was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The investigation concluded that the cause of death was strangulation. Photographs and video footage of the attack, widely circulated at the time, later served as key evidence in identifying the alleged perpetrators.
The killing sparked widespread outrage in Cyprus and abroad. Three days later, on August 14, 1996, Solomos Solomou was also killed in Dheryneia while attempting to climb a flagpole to remove a Turkish flag.
On November 22, 1996, Cyprus Police issued international arrest warrants for five men identified as suspects in Isaac's killing: Hasim Yilmaz, Neifel Mustafa Ergun, Polat Fikret Koreli, Mehmet Mustafa Arslan, and Erhan Arikli. Their names were also included in the material examined by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
According to the case file, Hasim Yilmaz was identified as a Turkish settler and former member of Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), Neifel Mustafa Ergun as a Turkish settler and a "police officer" of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Polat Fikret Koreli as a Turkish Cypriot from Famagusta, Mehmet Mustafa Arslan as a Turkish settler and leader of the Grey Wolves in the occupied areas, and Erhan Arikli as a Turkish settler originally from the former Soviet Union. Arikli was arrested in Kyrgyzstan in 2012 but was subsequently released and was not extradited to the Republic of Cyprus.
In its judgment of June 24, 2008, in the case Isaak v. Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights found that Turkey had violated Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, both with regard to the protection of the right to life and its obligation to carry out an effective investigation into Isaac's death. The Court held that the Turkish authorities had failed to conduct an adequate investigation or ensure that those responsible were brought to justice, and awarded compensation to Isaac's family.