The second week of the Orthodox Easter I had a great chance with the choir of Alexandria to visit the Western Coast of Turkey, Minor Asia.

As you may have heard all this area was once inhabited by Hellenes (Greeks) for several thousands of years until 1922, that they were forced to leave their homes along the eastern side of the Aegean. You may also have heard that Ottoman Turques come from central Asia and conquered the whole area to the Balkans at about 1400 establishing the Ottoman Empire which «finally» ended for us, Hellenes, just in the early 1900s. (The Dodecanese joined Hellas just about in 1950!)

I’m not trying to make any kind of statement, but a short rewind to history reminds us of the common route of the people sharing the same part of the earth for so long. It’s true that history is recent but the young generations haven’t lived the tragedy of Smyrni (Izmir), they only have lived with its ghosts in their families and received the disappointment, the pain and the neighbors’ hostility that caused it. But since we, the young, miss the original experience that apart from the pain of the lost homes includes the common lives, the common pictures of the same land, the same traditions, loves and hates we just ignore and thus we can’t recognize where a great part of ourselves comes from.

We like to remember the glories of the Ancient Greeks «that conquered the world and offered the civilization to the villagers». We’ve even managed to make ours the Hebrews’ God and actually believe that we have privileges on the only true belief/religion»! We even dare to be proud of the middle ages, the Byzantine, because «we used spoons and forks while the rest of Europe was inhabited by savage races». And of course, we remember our common life.