PRIMARY SCHOOL OF AYIA MARINA, LEROS

SCHOOL OF GÜLLÜK TÜRKEY

 

“A bridge of Friendship over the Aegean”

( The town of  GÜLLÜK,  the first message from Grecce,  the answer,  letters,  mosaic,  the rug, 
teachers' poems,  students' poems,  the award,  the song "Bridge of Brotherhood",  exchanging visits )

v Because we believe that peace is a value created by our thoughts…

v  Because we believe that “Education for Peace” cannot be limited within a certain period of time.

v  Because we believe that enemies are created among nations that do not get to know each other…

In June 1987, despite the state of confusion that reigned in the region at the time (crisis in the greek-turkish relationships, threat of war, mobilization orders), the students of the Primary School of Ayia Marina, Leros started to build “A bridge of Friendship over the Aegean”. They sent messages to the children of   GÜLLÜK, a turkish town on the shore of Asia Minor just across the Aegean, declaring openly that they prefered the warmth of peace a thousand times more than the winds of war.

The children “on the other side of the water” had exactly the same opinion. In their answer they said that:

“The most beautiful and pure friendship lives in the innocent hearts of children.”

“The longest bridge of friendship is built by children.”

 

With the support of their teachers and the approval of their families, the children started to get to know each other and to build a friendship through letters.

Countless letters  full of emotion and love, hundreds of verses  bursting with sensibility and generous feelings, started to travel from GÜLLÜK to LEROS, sending, in the words of theTurkish composer Zülfü Livaneli : “Greetings to those who dream of the sea under the ice”.

 

In 1990, during the visit of a group of teachers, the Primary School of Ayia Marina, offered the School of Güllük a mosaic, whose theme was Peace and Friendship and which was made by the children.. The next year, the teachers of the Turkish School returned the visit, offering as a present to the School of Ayia Marina a handmade rug with the same theme.  

Those presents, along with many drawings, photographs and poems, adorn the two schools and manifest in the clearest and most positive way their will to preserve and trumpet forth their friendship.

In 1991, the two schools shared the “ABDİ İPEKÇİ Prize for Peace and Friendship”. In 1994, the song “Bridge of Friendship”, lyrics and music by the Turkish teacher Levent Meşelik, became the Hymn of the two Schools and is often heard on both sides of the Aegean.

More recently, groups of children from the two schools exchanged visits , took  part in joint events and had the opportunity to meet each other in person.

 

We believe that this friendship could be a good example for the people and the governments of our countries. It shows what we have to gain by building a peaceful world for our children, who definitely deserve a brighter future.