Hundreds of Turkish citizens gathered outside the Greek consulate in the city of Izmir on Thursday to express their solidarity with the Greek people following the devastating wildfires and the heavy death toll.
Simple people and members of trade unions held banners reading “Hold On, Neighbors!”
Some were holding a banner in fact a copy of a front-line page run by the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia that expressed the Greek support to Turkey after the devastating earthquake in August 1999.
Some pictures from the gathering were posted by Greek Consul General Argyro Papoulia, notes amna.
On the island of Imvros the few Greek residents prayed together with the Turkish neighbors for the victims of the wildfires
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On Thursday, short before the friendly match between Olympiakos FC and Goztepe Fc in Holland, The Turkish team raised a support banner.
Players of both teams said Get Well, Greece.
Messages of support for Greece from Turkey flooded the social media from the very first day of the wildfires. And not Only.
One of the biggest Turkish newspaper Cumhurriyet was published on July 25th, one and a half day after the disaster with a big front page title written in Greek: “We Share Your Pain.” and a note that the death toll was 74.
Hashtag #Yunanistan – Greece in Turkish – was among the top global trends.
#Πυρκαγια #Yunanistan #PrayForGreece Our prayers with our beloved neighbor Greece 🙏🏻🙏🏻 🇹🇷❤️🇬🇷 pic.twitter.com/U4UTPD9iww
— Uygar Lipa 🇹🇷🇺🇸🇨🇦 (@2good4uUygar) July 25, 2018
#Yunanistan here we are raedy to host you whenever you want to stay. Our prays are for people of Athens and Greeece. #friendshipneverburns pic.twitter.com/j19bIQap0Y
— ahmet Unal (@ahmunall) July 25, 2018
Hashtag #GesmisOlsunConsu meaning “Get Well, Neighbor” was top trend in Turkey.
I found this pic and I wish we would be like this every day
Don't let the politicians to divide us #yunanistan #GeçmişOlsunKomşu pic.twitter.com/s6yGlLngVQ— nικοleta (@xforeverobx) July 24, 2018
#Greece #fire #Grece #Yunanistan
Neighbors I share the pain of Greece .. We love you very much pic.twitter.com/nymtyta07k— murat demir (@murat__demir) July 26, 2018
Greeks used the same hashtag to thank by the Turkish neighbors
#Yunanistan
Thank you all for your support,your thoughts and nice words.This is what matters most..When there are people with heart 🇬🇷💗 pic.twitter.com/irCzyJCLpP— Eye of Scorpion 🇬🇷 💗 (@asiaskgr) July 25, 2018
#Yunanistan #GeçmişOlsunKomşu #Πυρκαγια Thank you, neighbors.
— Roast porg (@aikpas) July 26, 2018
Relations between the two neighboring countries are often soured due to an aggresive Turkish foreign policy. Nationalists on both sides swear at each other on media, blogs, websites and of course, social media.
But disasters unite and bring people together. So did the earthquakes in 1999, when a devastating earthquake hit Turkey in August, and another one stroke Greece a month later. At that time, Greek-Turkish relations were at the bottom.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called both his Greek counterpart Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to express his condolence for the victims of the fires.
