Tasos Isaak’s Daughter Rejects Niyazi Kızılyürek’s Apology, Calls For Perpetrators To Be Punished

According to Politis, in a report headlined “Debate Over Justice Remaining Open 30 Years Later… Kızılyürek’s Apology and Anastasia Isaak’s Response”, Kızılyürek made a social media post marking the anniversary of the deaths of Tasos Isaak and Solomos Solomou.

Kızılyürek said he had felt the need to speak publicly about the events of August 1996, describing his position as “a moral obligation and political responsibility as an academic and intellectual.” Addressing Anastasia Isaak, he said it was his “moral duty to apologise to her.”

According to the report, Kızılyürek’s remarks drew a reaction from Anastasia Isaak, who rejected his apology and instead called for accountability and justice.

Anastasia called for those responsible for the deaths to be punished and for justice to be delivered to the families who, she said, had been living with the consequences of the events since 1996.

Following Isaak’s response, Kızılyürek appeared on Alpha TV, saying he also supported calls for those responsible to be identified, arrested and held accountable, but argued that crimes committed in the past should not be addressed selectively.

Referring to crimes committed during various periods from 1958 through 1963-64 and 1974, Kızılyürek said perpetrators from both communities should be brought before the courts.

He stressed that collective responsibility should not be attributed to either community, noting that there had been people who promoted peace as well as people who fuelled hatred on both sides.

Kızılyürek said making this distinction was essential to confronting the past and advancing coexistence between the two communities.