Rouen with love ...

Each of the two peoples having their convictions stuck to the body and to the heart, it is impossible to debate this subject without the spirits being heated. It is a question of honor. Being Mediterranean, they also have a gestural grandiloquence which very quickly becomes theatrical. If today, I smile at this memory, I admit that these quarrels often irritated me when they did not admit their historical similarities. Two peoples so similar who hate each other so much is improbable.

The first time I asked for a Greek coffee in Paros, I had the misfortune to ask the waiter for a Turkish coffee, it is true that in France we know it more under this name. The waiter refused to serve me! I would have insulted him that the effect would not have been worse. I then entered full force into this war which has been tickling them for too many decades in my opinion. I had the right to a long lesson before seeing myself served with my coffee and, above all, after finally ordering a "Greek" coffee, I understood the server's susceptibility and I wanted my coffee after all!

Very quickly, I understood that the subject was extremely sensitive by commenting on errors of integration into Greek culture.

The first time I went to Bouzouki, I thought I was going to be lynched because I dared to say that traditional Greek music was very similar to Arabic music. Sacrilege! it is of course the Turks who copied their style ... as they copied their coffee, Turkish delights, baklava, the blue eye (against the evil eye as it is drawn in the image) and I pass. I never understood this denial of cultural similarities, nor their explosive anger over it. They will never call the Turkish capital "Istanbul", it is and remains for the Greeks "Constantinople", out of the question to give in on this subject either, it would be to deny their history. Another time, I feared that a war might be starting because Turkish shepherds had dared to lay a Turkish flag on a Greek desert islet in the waters of the Aegean Sea. When I heard the military planes pass over our heads, I thought they were all going crazy. Quickly resolved but recurring incident between the two countries, each wanting to prove that they are the strongest. Very Mediterranean spirit which is once again common to them.

Greece and Turkey being tourist places, some Turkish tourists lost their way among us and, only, foreign hoteliers accepted them. By misplaced pride, the Greeks could not tolerate receiving Turkish tourists in their establishment. What a stupid thing! They also feared what their Greek fellows would say. I was criticized for having received them in my hotel but I didn't care, they were charming customers and, well behaved, they did not hesitate to order me "Greek" coffees! I will never forget this Turkish client who, with his wife, made fun of missing his ferry to free my young son who had locked himself in the toilet and did not know how to get out ... no Greek has come to help except this young gentleman who has my eternal gratitude. An observation in this situation and my heart swings in favor of the Turk: the altruism of the man!

The Greeks later caught up in my eyes when an earthquake, which both countries are accustomed to, claimed many victims in Turkey and the Greek rescuers went to help in the search for survivors. They have risen in my esteem without a doubt.

The most complicated to manage however was the education of my son between my convictions and the Greek school education. Everything was white and black, no nuance in the apprehension of the history between the two countries. Especially with Palassia, one of my son's primary school teachers. When he started making intolerable remarks about the Turks at home, I felt the danger and the influence of school. If I schematize, the Greek was the good, the Turkish, the bad ... if everything were that simple! I did not have to ask for an audience with the high priestess, she summoned me and I could say that we "did not like" each other at first sight. She considered herself to have absolute knowledge and I was just a stranger who just had to shut up. Anyway, she only liked Greek moms. Her rate of xenophobia was higher than her cholesterol level! She didn't want to hear me and just wanted to teach me a lesson but it was about my son so I turned into a lioness, out of the question to see my son indoctrinated by stupidity, I told her that she was there to instill in him historical facts and not hatred for the Turks by coming to terms with History. It was unbearable. The word of a teacher for a young child being Orthodox word, I had to fight at home and one of my solutions was to watch with my son Turkish series subtitled in Greek, we had fun repeating the words, the Turk having a cheerful tone. At the same time, I taught my son tolerance, appreciating others or not for who they are and not for their origins, their skin color.

My son, now an adult, is very Greek in his heart, it is the stronger half in his diversity. He will always be more Greek than French but I managed at least not to make him hate the Turks ... I will at least have succeeded in that. Phew.

For him, Greek coffee is only Greek, Turkish delights, etc. too, to claim the contrary would be to deny his own origins.

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Incredible what an image can inspire and bring back memories ...

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