Cyprus to hold memorial ceremony for Turkish soldier Allahverdi Kılıç
A memorial ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the death of Turkish soldier Allahverdi Kılıç will be held on Tuesday in the village of Acheritou in Cyprus’s Famagusta district. He was shot dead on September 8, 1996, while on duty near the village, Cyprus Mail reports.
Kılıç was born in Turkey and moved to Cyprus as an infant in 1976. According to the publication, he was shot four times. Burhan Cihangir, who was at the same post, was also wounded but survived.
Conflicting accounts of the shooting
The Turkish Cypriot side claims that the shots were fired by Greek Cypriot military personnel. The Pergamos municipality, which represents the Turkish Cypriot community, called Kılıç a “martyr” and said that the memory of him and his family’s pain have not faded.
At the same time, the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus denied in September 1996 that the shots which killed Kılıç had been fired by Greek Cypriots. As noted in a review by the Macedonian Press Agency at the time, the authorities also did not rule out the possibility of a provocation: according to available information, Turkish posts in the area were located about 700 meters from National Guard posts.
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Politicians’ statements in 1996
The then leader of the DISY party, Nikos Anastasiades, said that the initial indications, in his view, confirmed information about possible provocative actions by the Turkish side disguised as revenge by Greek Cypriots. He also said that those seeking tension between the two communities were not interested in a peaceful settlement and the reunification of Cyprus on the basis of UN resolutions.
The then leader of AKEL, Andreas Christou, said that police information, according to him, indicated that the actions had been carried out exclusively in the north of the island. DIKO leader Spyros Kyprianou said that the Turkish side was trying to prove the impossibility of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots living together.
Kılıç’s death occurred at the end of a tense summer in Cyprus in 1996. In August that year, Greek Cypriots Tassos Isaac and Solomos Solomou were killed during separate demonstrations in the buffer zone near Deryneia, while Turkish Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adalı was shot dead near his home in Nicosia.
