It's not a country for tourists, it's the country we live in. Thessaloniki was named after the sister of Alexander the great by her husband who found it.
@@eleniasimop ----- The idea is based on the ease of pronouncing the city’s name - whoever can do without tourists to visit it, you have your city, even though it is beautiful and an addition to tourism.
It was a city of Ottoman Turks for 502 years, where the majority of Turks, Greeks and Jews lived peacefully. With its railway and port, trade, economic base, the "Gate of Europe" of the Ottoman Turks, it was a modern city. Greece destroyed its memory, and its magnificent architecture was buried in history. The destruction began in 1912. The city fell into the hands of the Greeks in the Balkan war. Neither the lives nor the properties of Muslims and Jews were protected. Many mosques in Thessaloniki were converted into churches. Even the grave of Atatürk's father, who was born here, was converted into a church. In 1913, there were Turks, Jews, Macedonians and a smaller number of Greeks in the historical Turkish city. In the First World War, while the city was under occupation, a fire broke out in August 1917. A large part of the pearl of the Balkans was destroyed. What remained behind were demolished minarets, torn down street signs and abandoned buildings. The city's lands were divided. In 1923, this time, forced migration was faced. Thousands of people from Thrace and Western Anatolia Greek refugees poured into Thessaloniki, swelling the Greek population. Turkish refugees were sent by ship to Istanbul and Anatolia. The entire Turkish population emigrated. The demographic structure in Thessaloniki changed. There was a transition from multicultural life to monocultural life. The city's lands were redistributed. When the port city of Thessaloniki, which was a Turkish homeland for 5 centuries, was abandoned, 139 mosques, including Turkish artifacts, were almost completely destroyed. Thessaloniki is the second largest city after Athens. The city's appearance resembles Izmir. However, 98 percent of Turkish artifacts were destroyed. Some of the structures that remained standing were destroyed by the earthquakes of 1936 and 1978. Instead of being restored, they were erased from history. The destroyed history of Thessaloniki. Muslim graves were destroyed. Among them was the grave of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's father, Ali Rıza Efendi. Today, Greece does not hesitate to apply discriminatory policies to Western Thrace Turks. The ethnic identity, religious freedom and education problems of the Turkish minority continue. It is also closing Turkish schools in Western Thrace and Southern Macedonia with excuses contrary to the Lausanne Treaty. With the 4 schools closed in June and July, the total number of Turkish schools, which was 251, has dropped to 86. It also refuses to recognize minority status and open schools for the Turkish presence on these islands on the grounds that the Aegean islands belonged to Italy when Lausanne was signed.
