Athens, Greece. Motorcyclists participating in the Isaac and Solomou memorial initiative visited the Acropolis on Wednesday during a ten-day tour across Greece marking 30 years since the deaths of Tassos Isaac and Solomos Solomou.
Following the visit, a delegation of riders met Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas.
Tour route
The group departed Limassol by ferry for Piraeus last Wednesday before beginning a journey through locations selected for their symbolic associations with Cyprus.
Stops include Karavas in Kythira, Salamina in Attica, Rhodes, Kastellorizo and Kerynia in the Peloponnese. Kerynia shares its name with Kyrenia, which was founded by ancient Achaeans.
Commemoration
The ride commemorates Tassos Isaac, who was beaten to death on August 11, 1996, after becoming trapped in barbed wire during demonstrations in the UN buffer zone near Dheryneia.
Solomos Solomou was shot dead three days later while attempting to remove a Turkish flag from a flagpole at a Turkish military position.
Initiative aims
Before the group departed Limassol, initiative representative Kyriacos Yiangou said the tour sought to maintain the demand for justice and the right of Cypriot refugees to return to their homes.
“We are demanding the right to freely go to our land, the right to freedom, the right to dignity, the right to justice,” Yiangou said.
He said each memorial ride carried emotional significance and that members of Isaac’s family, including his mother, daughter and sisters, regularly took part.
“The bikers honour the memory of the martyrs, they do not forget and we all try, through their sacrifice, to send the messages emanating from it,” he said.
Previous rides
The current journey is the initiative’s third commemorative tour, following rides in Germany in 2016 and Greece in 2021.