Festival brings Greek exiles back to island home they never forgot

On August 22, Gökçeada Island in Turkey experienced a festival as Greek Orthodox icons adorned the streets, leading up to the parades led by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Born on this island, the 77-year-old Haimandos returns to the village where he once resided. Following the 1964 clash between Greek and Turkish communities, Haimandos and many others reluctantly left the island.

Each year, the Feast of the Virgin Mary brings hundreds back to Gökçeada, with the island's most renowned son, Bartholomew I, delivering a liturgy on August 15. The island, known as Imbros to Greeks, once had a Greek majority, but many now fear the loss of their cultural heritage. Following the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, Greek-speaking Christians were exempted from the population exchange, along with Imbros and Tenedos, while the Turkish-speaking minority in Thrace was not included.

Since 1964, Greece has closed Greek schools on Gökçeada and established an open prison on expropriated land, causing the departure of many families. Despite these changes, many locals still feel at home, as does Haimandos, who left for Istanbul at 13 and later moved to Sydney. Bartholomew I and other locals perform rebetiko songs to revive the island's Greek spirit and community.

However, efforts to bring people back face challenges, as the island's Greek culture continues to diminish.