First prayer in Thessaloniki mosque after 90 years

Greek Muslims have prayed in a 111-year-old mosque in the city of Thessaloniki for the first time in 90 years. Fifty madrasah students from Komotini who were visiting Thessaloniki prayed on March 30 in the historical New Mosque, which is normally used as an exhibition hall. The students reportedly went to Thessaloniki with an initiative of the city’s mayor, Yiannis Boutaris. 

“A positive step has been taken in the right direction,” said Kerim Uras, Turkey’s ambassador to Greece. “We’re expecting the rest to come. I hope Athens will also be a place where Muslims can pray.” 

Turkey’s Thessaloniki consul general, Tuğrul Biltekin, is also pleased with the decision. “I am so happy about this historical development. I hope mosques in Thessaloniki and other locations in the region will be open to Muslims during holy days,” he said.

Note : It is a very positive step. And one day Athens will have a place for Muslims to pray also. Good to see positive approach from our dear Neighbour. 

Source here ; http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/first-prayer-in-thessaloniki-mosque-after-90-years.aspx?pageID=238&nID=44096&NewsCatID=393

Good move,we expect mutuality from our eastern neighbours as well 

Minority school on Aegean island set to reopen after 50 years

The Education Ministry has responded positively to a demand to reopen a Greek  minority school on the Aegean island of Gökçeada that has remained closed for nearly half a century.

Announcing his ministry’s decision to grant permission for the reopening of the Private Gökçeada Greek Primary School, Education Minister Nabi Avcı told Anatolia news agency on March 28 that the decision was valid as of the date of the announcement.

Laki Vingas, who is in charge of minority foundations in Turkey’s Foundations Directorate General, told the Daily News by phone today that he was very happy about the decision, which came after a long period of struggle. 

The school was among many others that were closed some 50 years ago, Vingas noted. 

“For half a century we have been working on creating a future starting from point zero.” 

Vingas said he was thankful for the government and the bureaucrats who lent support to the reopening of the school, which will be operational by the next school year starting in September. 

Commenting on a question about whether this was a clue that Heybeliada Halki Seminary would also be reopened, Vingas said the two issues were different but related. “First of all, it makes us very happy to see that the government has a will to solve the problems,” he said. 

The school, which was opened in 1951, had been shut down in 1964 following a decree issued by Turkey’s second president and prime minister at the time, İsmet İnönü, on the pretext of the growing tensions in Cyprus that led to an exodus of Anatolian Greeks. The school in Gökçeada was shut down shortly after. 

Only Turkish citizens are allowed to receive education in minority schools, in accordance with the Lausanne Treaty of 1923. According to Anatolia news agency, since 2011, three Greek minority primary schools and one Greek minority high school were closed down by the Education Ministry upon demands by the founders of the schools. 

The ministry is heeding applications for either the opening or closing of minority schools, Anatolia news agency added.

Gökçeada (Imbros in Greek) is an island in the Aegean Sea and the largest island of Turkey. It is located to the north of the entrance to the 

Note : Here, a positive move from your eastern Neighbour  

Source here :http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/minority-school-on-aegean-island-set-to-reopen-after-50-years.aspx?pageID=238&nID=43858&NewsCatID=339

So many things have to be done from both sides of the Aegean. Let us hope that is only the beginning.

That´s  what people of two nations want to see ;

But politicians dont want to see this..They have been planting seeds of hatred between these two nations. 

We will be stronger together ! 

Well, i agree but don´t forget the so salled ´´ Big Nations´´ that always stir up the nationalism and digging up the past. They don´t want piece between our countries,let´s face it,cause they have their own interests in the area. Divide and conquer dogma...

Yes, big powers [imperialists] always plays their dirty games on us.

What we need to do is [I know it may sound bit utopian] to establish A " BALKAN UNION [BU] " [ Turkey, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia Herzogovina, Serbia, Crotia]   trade union to start with...

I agree, but as a well educated person that i know you are ,iam sure you know that there is no other Macedonia than Greek one. Macedonia is a greek area since 3.000 BC . Iam not nationalist as you know,but the historical truth should be always told. 

We call FYROM "Makedonya" in Turkish.

Until the end of WW2 that area was called  ´´Vardaska´´ and afterwards was a Yugoslavia area. Εven during Ottoman rule  there was no macedonian ethnicity there. They were Bulgarians the majority of them.