Greeks and Turks draw closer with mass

Almost 90 years after the Greco-Turkish War ended and an agreement on an exchange of inhabitants was signed, Greek Orthodox Christians on Sunday celebrated for the first time a mass in the Sumela Monastery on Turkish territory. The left-liberal daily Ta Nea sees the celebration of the mass as a new beacon of hope for Greek-Turkish relations: "If a climate of trust prevails, old and seemingly insurmountable hurdles in the relations between the two peoples living on opposite sides of the Aegean Sea will disappear and be transformed into bridges of communication. ... Almost nine decades after the agreement on the exchange of inhabitants the mutual desire for peace and respect for religious rights among the Greek pilgrims and Turkish inhabitants was ... obvious. If these mutual feelings can be transferred to a political level and relations develop stably, it would indeed be appropriate to describe last Sunday as historical."

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