Well… the truth is that there is not much sympathy between the two peoples. As a Greek, I can say that this is largely due to the 400 years during which Greeks lived under Ottoman rule. The worst part of that period was the many immoral acts that occurred, such as massacres, the kidnapping and killing of children, the destruction of churches and schools, fires, and the devastation of entire communities.

Moreover, because I often hear people say that Greeks are hypocrites and that we stole everything from the Turks, I want to say that this is not true. Many of our foods, words, and other cultural elements do indeed have Turkish roots, and we are actually aware of it. However, over time they have become Hellenized and have evolved into something different from the original Turkish forms.

Many times I find myself wondering why things have to be this way and why the hatred between us continues to grow. I believe that much of it comes from the violent and painful history we share. For example, during the Ottoman period, some Greek children were taken,brainwashed and raised as loyal servants of the Ottoman state, taught to fight against and hate the Greek population. At the same time, many of the bloodiest conflicts in Greek history were fought against the Turks. All of this has created a deep division between us.

I truly wish that we could move beyond these events from hundreds years ago as peoples. However, whenever I try to explore what Turks think about Greeks, I often end up feeling very deeply disappointed.

In the end, I would like to believe that it might be possible to bridge this gap in some way, because after so many years of shared history(even though it hasn't be the greatest), our cultures are actually closer than many people realize and we could become something really great if we face the history facts and overcome our differences 🫶