An elderly Greek man was found dead and tortured on the Turkish island of Imvros that is home of a small Greek community.
86-year-old Zafiris Ignaris (Piyanari) was found on Monday night.
He was tied in hands and legs and had blood on his face. He was living alone in a remote house in the village Evlampios.
The brutal murder was discovered when a neighbor brought dinner to the man. The neighbor could not open the door and called the police.
According to Skai TV, the crime scene refers to a robbery, however, Mem-bers of the Imvros Greek community were also killed in the 1960’s and 1970’s when there was tensions between the two countries.
Turkish police investigates the case especially regarding the perpetrators’ motives.
According to Turkish media, local police had detained one suspect, while three others are under investigation.
The body of the victim is to undergo an autopsy.
The victim, a trader, was a distinguish member of the local community.
The island was primarily inhabited by ethnic Greeks from antiquity until approximately the 1960s, when many emigrated to Greece, Western Europe, the United States and Australia, due to a campaign of state-sponsored discrimination. According to 2016 census, the island has a population of 8,776, with only 300 Greeks. Majority of the the Greek minority are elderly, however, families with children have moved in the last years.
The Turkish government renamed Imvros or Imbros into Gokceada in the 1970’s.
