With European Union’s project
we get the chance to loosen up the borders at least a little. We didn’t sail to
cross the borders but we flew to Athens. We were not suprised to be welcomed by
olive trees, eucalyptus and vineyards. Athens and Greece as a whole flourished
and developed after the population exchange between Turkey and Greece and
gained its present identity.
What is the Population Exchange
(Mübadele)?
The 1923 population exchange
between Greece and Turkey (Greek: Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, Turkish: Mübâdele) stemmed from
the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish
Populations" signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 30 January 1923, by the
governments of Greece and Turkey. It involved approximately 2 million people
(around 1.3 million Anatolian Greeks and 500,000 Muslims in Greece), most of
whom were forcibly made refugees and de jure denaturalized from their
homelands. (wikipedia)
Not only from Triglia but people
all over the Anatolia were forced to migrate to Rafina by decision of two
countries. I would like to share feelings of people who have connections with
Anatolia. Savvas who is in his 40s; “Our
history, life story and roots of our family are all in the other side of Agean
Sea. The other side is an important part of our identity. Every weekend in our
house we make
lahmacun, kebab and baklava. Our traditions continue. If I didn’t
know my story in Triglia I would not understand myself and my society..” “I wasn’t
born in there Triglia but I know I will cry if I ever go there. This is why I
always postpone my visit. I grew up with happy stories of my grandmother in
Triglia.”
Kostas starts speaking with a
constant smile on his face; “The Greek
football club AEK was established in Istanbul. That’s why most of the
immigrants from Turkey support this team. AEK’s sister team is Beşiktaş.”
Sissy who usually has unusual and
exciting ideas tells me; “Mehmet, they should remove the borders and let people
mix. Nationalism ruined both of the cultures. It dried them up. Shall we
establish an association for Aegean with No Borders? I got excited with this
idea as I always do and said; “Why not! Let’s do it”. Amalia, who is always positive, enthusiastic and ready for new projects, gets excited and says; "We need to do a lot of things to bring people together". At the end, we make new plans to meet
both in Turkey and in Greece.
Katerina (65) who studied at
the Greek Primary school in İstanbul shared with us her touchy story
showing
the old photos; “I lived at coasts of
Arnavutköy in Istanbul until 1975. Our house was located near the school and
the church. When I was 13 I had to leave my beloved Istanbul. I still can not forget
my hometown. I sometimes meet with my Turkish friends.” I liked her Turkish
with Greek accent and the interesting details she told me about İstanbul.
An old man in the crowd
approached to us and said hello and started to tell us his story. “I did my military service in Sivas
Temeltepe in 1972 for two years. When I came back to Istanbul the war of Cyrpus
broke out. They told us to leave. So we had to leave everything behind us and migrate
to Greece. Istanbul is my homeland. It was not a place to be left but what could
we do?…”
Meanwhile I was informed that
the Greek government removed the information which contained discrimination
about the Turks from school books four years ago. This news made me happy. I wish
the same thing would happen in the Turkish textbooks soon.
We spent one long and lovely
week in Rafina within the Project Mobility. During this week, local
people and teachers showed us their
hospitality, warm friendship and wanted to talk and learn about their
homelands. We felt that we were treated specially as we came from their lands.
Honestly we didn’t expect it.
One of our colleagues, Zeliha,
confesses something; “We have all grown
up with the war, fight and hatred stories between two nations. Thats why I was scared a
little bit before coming here. However, when I came I felt relieved because people were very
friendly and showed me no prejudice.”
My principal, Mr. Sami Bozkurt
was very surprised by what he has experienced and heard; “Until coming here, I was only familiar with the sad stories of Turkish people
who had to migrate from Greece to Turkey. I didn't know the story of this side.
I am shocked with the big love of people towards their homelands. The mayor
hugged me and called ‘My brother'. At that moment, I could hardly keep my tears coming down.”
City of Goddesses and Graffitis; Athens
Greek Parliament building which
symbolises the final version of the Greek democracy welcomes lots of visitors
every minute. It is nice to see the soldiers dressed in traditional uniforms
and take pictures with them. You can also chat with pigeons that stand on your
arm and eat bread from your fingers. It is a good idea to buy Simit
(traditional bread in a ring) and share it with the pigeons. They will love
you.
You walk on the streets that
are usually quiet and not crowded and reach the National Garden. When you walk into the oasis that was created
by a German Agronomists in 1838 you save
yourself from the city rush, heat and the city itself. Isn’t it a
great idea to
create some green zones where you can easily take shelter in. Athenians, who
have always had big joy of life, enjoyed drinking and chatting were clever
enough to create such zones very long time ago. Even though the ciy grew up and
got bigger the botanical garden could keep itself the same. In the same area you meet
the historical building of National Technical University of Athens.It is
the heart of science and the center of
the protests. The university walls are decorated with radical political slogans
and students usually has something to protest. The police is not allowed to enter into
the university which makes the job of the protestors easier. Graffiti is a way
of art and expressing views. Not only the university but most of the buildings
in the city is covered with graffitis. Thats why we can easily call athens as
the lover of Graffitti.
Greeks who migrated to Athens
from Izmir created a small Izmir in Athens. It is called ‘Nea Smyrini’ which
simply means ‘New Izmir’. By creating Izmir’s clock tower, historical
buildings, similar streets and the fair people tried to overcome the
homesickness. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if I’d say that they took Izmir to
Athens with them. A resident of New Symirni, Katerina says; “People can not
forget Izmir, Istanbul, Triglia and the other Minor Asia cities. We kept living
the same life here in Athens after we left homelands.
Habitat in the Shadow of Acropolis; Monastraki Flea
Market
When you enter the Monastraki
Flea Market you feel like you are in Izmir’s historical Bazaar called
Kemeraltı.
Colorful clothes that are displayed in front of the shops, people from
different cultures walking in the bazaar, people enjoying their Greek/Turkish coffee,
the cheapness, fruit vendors, constant movement… It is not possible not to feel
like you’re at Kemeraltı Bazaar. The only difference is that people are not in
a hurry and they are calmer. In this square where the mosque and the church
neighbouring each other since the Ottoman era there are many tourists, pedlars,
shoppers and the ones who try to avoid the heat by having their frappes. While
hearing Turkish words occasionally and watching the giant Acropolis that
behaves like the owner of the city you feel the east and the west sides of the
Athens at the same time. It is not strange for Athens to carry the colours of East
as the city was ruled
by the Ottoman
Empire for five centuries and Greece has alsways had close relationships with
Middle East and Mesopotamia even before the Ottomans. The city, now, houses the
Turks, the Pomaks, the Jews, Albanians, Syrians and other different cultures.
This is what makes Athens charming… When wandering around in this ancient and
colorful city I remember how Philip Marcel portraits Izmir or Thessaloniki in
the 1920s in his book called Levand. Athenians have recently built a
magnificent museum which suits the greatness of Acropolis. The old ruins are
kept in the basement of the museum and covered with glass. When you walk on the
glass in the first ground of the museum you look down through the glass and you
feel like you’re walking in space. It is really inspiring to watch the works of
the Greek
sculptures who are talented in giving soul and emotion to stones. It
is also inspiring to listen and learn these things from a guide who does her
job with passion and love. Temple of Artemis was a pagan temple which was
converted to a church by the Romans and then converted to a mosque by the
Ottomans. After the Greek independence war the mosque was converted to a church
again.
What I like the most in Greece
during my trip is the Greek cuisine and sweet conversation that usually happen
while eating. This cuisine culture has succeeded to combine the sea foods like
fish, calamari, octopus, shrimps with Mediterranean olive oil and spices with
experience of thousands of years. Adittionally, Greeks have put amazing
vegetables, fruits, wine, ouzo and raki from their fertile fields on the dining
tables. Our new friends arranged such tables and created the lovely moments to
experience all the beauties and tastes of the city.
School and Education…
We spent one week in our partner school. It was like our second home during this period. What did we see? What did we learn? Greek schools are subsidised by the municipalities. But the government pays the teachers salaries. The primary school lasts six years. The school we have visited has wide garden and a gym with multipurpose use and the classes usually have between 20-25 children. A teacher teaches a class only two years. In a school with 130 students there are 6 teachers, 6 subject teachers, 1 principal and a few workers. The principal has to hold at least a masters degree. There are no chocolate, biscuits and others ready products in the school canteen. Students can microwave the foods they bring from home in the canteen. Only homemade borek, pogaca and sandwiches are sold. Teachers use this canteen to eat, drink coffee and sometimes smoking. They do block lessons in the schools and on the breaks all students are taken out to the garden. Teachers watch kids in the school garden just in case. Motivation of the students and their behaviours to each other seem to be positive. They try to support each other in group works instead of competing. Seeing there are no tests or race for exams in this system (at least at primary level) makes me happy. They do their lessons with projects, reading, narrating and creative writing. By the way there are Chinese, Bulgarian, Albanian and students from other nationalities attending the school. They know
Kids start to learn English at
kindergarten. After teaching in classes and talking local people on streets I
can say that local people can speak English well. Subject teachers teach PE, English, German, French, PC, art, music
and gym at primary level. Kids have religion classes but non-Orthodox (Protestant,
Catholic) and Muslims, Jewish, Zarathustra and kids with other religions are
not obliged to attend the religion classes. When a school’s population exceeds 300 children it is divided into two parts and the municipality opens a new
school. Children from Rafina are friendly, energetic, open to innovation and
they are fond of talking to people from different cultures. Now we help Turkish
and Greek kids become penpals and start friendship from the very beginning of
their life.
Next meeting with new Greek friends
from will take place in this part of the sea, in Izmir. We will visit
where the Greek grandfathers used to live, we will add Baglama to Bouzouki and
sing Agean songs together. We will drink Ouzo and Raki together and dance Sirtaki
and Halay. We will read both Yaşar Kemal and Dido Sotiro who genuinely believed
in peace and friendship of the Greeks and Turks. In this way we will make a
tiny
contribution toward reuniting Ageans' two sides. And finally, it seems that
I will travel to Triglia to bring greetings sent by friends in Rafina. And I will touch
the works of their ancestors for them. It also seems that the
journeys will go on until the two sides of the Agean Sea come together and the
borders disappear. For me, this is not a dream J.
Translated from Turkish by Gülce Dilay Erdem
Many thanks :)
Translated from Turkish by Gülce Dilay Erdem
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder