BOSTON, MA – The Hellenic National Council of America, Inc. shared an open letter, signed by the organization’s Acting President Demetrios Kafkas, to the people of Turkey and Syria on February 7 after the devastating earthquakes that claimed thousands of lives. The text of the letter follows:

Open Letter to the People of Modern Turkey and Greater Syria

In this time of human catastrophe, Nature has reminded us that despite our linguistic differences, social differences and purported cultural differences in the end we are ALL brothers and sisters with more common characteristics, values, and virtues. At the end, as we Greeks say: “All educated (cultured) individuals are Hellenes.”

So we put aside the flashing lights and cameras and sound bites of “our rocket can hit Athens,” we put aside the sound bite and repeated emphasis of “we will come one night, for sure we will come,” and basically say: “We too will come, with rain, snow, and cold, at night and day and help and assist and give a hand to our brothers and sisters in need.”

Nature has united us where politicians and interest groups have failed us as a common society of citizens of the Aegean basin, of Ellada and Anatolia.

At this time of pain, loss, both physical and material we must remember we have also gained the most precious thing we have, our humanity.

To the diverse ethnic people of Modern Turkey, and of Greater Syria we salute your spirit and resilience to live and rebuild. To the people lost, may your memory never be forgotten because your involuntary sacrifice brought us together in this time of real calamity.

Hope is the last thing that we lose. Keep your hope – we all in our own way are looking at the real picture and not the sound bites. When the cameras go away, we will be there helping as much as we can and we will cry and we will accept the precious compensation of the look in your eyes and the understanding that we are one people that politics and special interests including religion cannot divide. The time will come when instead of commemorating losses and expulsions of our kin from traditional homelands we will note who survived and come to realize that not all perished. That some remained, had to adjust and adapt, but in the end, they are still our family.

Our thoughts, prayers, and resources are at the disposal of the population. But first comes the survival of as many as we can help.