LONDON
All Greek Orthodox Churches in the UK collected donations on Sunday for victims of the Feb. 6 powerful earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria.
The move came by the order of the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in the UK, an incredible gesture given the decades-long political dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, proving how disasters bring different communities together despite disagreements.
“Our hearts are broken seeing what happened in Türkiye, that was hit by earthquakes,” the priest, Revd. Dr. Chrysostom Tympas, said during a Sunday service at the Greek Orthodox Church Saint Anargye in London.
He explained to the local community that the earthquakes affected millions of people, with thousands killed and many injured.
“Please make your donations generously for those who suffer and would be so for a long time,” he said, pointing to the scale of the tremblors.
Unique event
John Kaponi, the secretary of the church, told Anadolu that making donations for the quake survivors is “a very significant event to our church.”
He said it was a unique event since they have not done this before, on a nationwide basis on this level under the archdiocese in the UK.
“Over 100 churches across the UK today are doing the same thing, all of them collecting money for the earthquake victims in Türkiye,” Kaponi said.
Everyone’s very “upset” in their community and “extremely sympathetic” to the Turkish people, saying they are deeply affected by the images of children that were saved by rescue teams in the region.
“And through this gesture, we want to show the Turkish people … the love and solidarity that we need,” he added.
‘Turks help us, we help them’
“It is traditional for Greeks and Turks to support each other in times of earthquakes. I have witnessed before Turks who have helped us. We have helped them too. And we will continue to do so. It is human,” Constantine Buhayer, a local who joined the church’s Sunday service, told Anadolu.
Pointing out that such an event officially took place for the first time, he said: “But I am sure people have given money individually because the Greek and Turkish communities here are very close.
“British Greeks in British terms, we find the same political battles. We belong to the same parties. We support each other. We vote for each other. We shop at each other’s shops.”
He said “words are not enough” to explain the current state of the Turkish people when families were wiped out due to the earthquakes.
“It hits you in the stomach. It even hits you more in the stomach because you know that the fault line that goes through Türkiye (also) goes through Greece. What happened in Türkiye can happen in Greece,” he added.
‘Stand by each other’
Elsa Demyanidu, an Istanbul-born Greek, said “it’s hard to describe this pain and hard to describe our feelings.”
“We are with all those who suffer and the patriarchate both in Greece and here is trying to help both financially and morally. Everyone should do their best.”
“Today’s gathering is extremely important,” said Irene Hadjipateras, another worshipper, adding that she wishes every church held a collection drive.
“It’s the poorest of people that dig deeper into their pockets, which is very revealing to how important they feel the support is required all around the world, and they set an example of how it should be,” she said.
Hadjipateras said she feels “devastated” while seeing the footage coming from Türkiye, describing it as “a total tragedy.”
“Despite being always at loggerheads with each other, we’re very closely bounded anyway through history, and in a tragedy like this, we will always stand by each other. I think it is mutual,” she added.
‘Türkiye, Greece should not wait for another earthquake to mend fences’
Türkiye and Greece should not wait for another earthquake to mend fences, the Turkish foreign minister said Sunday.
Addressing reporters with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in quake-hit Hatay province in southern Türkiye, Mevlut Cavusoglu hailed Greece’s support in the wake of the devastating earthquakes.
“The fact that Nikos Dendias is here with us today shows the solidarity of the Greek people with Türkiye and the Turkish nation,” Cavusoglu said. “Good neighborly relations are seen during such challenging times.”
He recalled the 1999 Marmara earthquake in Türkiye, saying Greece also faced quakes then, only a month after Türkiye.
“At that time, first Greece rushed to help us, then Türkiye rushed to help Greece,” Cavusoglu said, citing a news story from Time magazine from a quarter century ago.
On Feb. 6, the earthquakes struck southern Türkiye, centered in Kahramanmaras and shaking nine other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.
The magnitude 7.6 and 7.7 tremors also hit several countries and caused destruction in northern Syria.
More than 31,600 people were killed in Türkiye, according to the latest official figures, while the death toll topped 3,600 in Syria.
