Greek Youth Choir to Perform in Solidarity with Turkey and Syria

A Greek youth choir is set to perform in solidarity with Turkey and Syria after both countries were devastated by two earthquakes last week.

The youth choir is named after the late Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis and is led by conductor Stefanos Kardiolakas.

The youth choir of the Mikis Theodorakis Museum of Zatouna will perform two songs by the renowned conductor Tuesday, February 14, at 17:00 EET at the Acropolis in Athens.

Youth choir performance

The youth choir will perform two songs by Mikis Theodorakis at the Acropolis in the heart of Athens to offer “a message of love and solidarity to the children” in Turkey and Syria who have been affected by the earthquakes.

The event is reportedly being sponsored by the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency and also possibly the Anadolu News Agency of Turkey, according to ERT News.

Mikis Theodorakis, who in addition to his work as a composer was a Greek member of parliament, was a strong advocate for better relations between Greece and Turkey during his political career.

Greek aid and humanitarian assistance

Beyond the forthcoming efforts of the youth choir to bring greater awareness and spread a message of support and solidarity to the people of Turkey and Syria, Greece has also been active in sending aid and humanitarian assistance to the affected countries.

Greece was one of the first countries to dispatch disaster relief teams to bolster efforts to find and care for survivors. As the death toll continued to climb – now estimated to be more than 35,000 – Greek disaster relief personnel scoured the rubble of devastated cities to locate any survivors. In some seemingly miraculous cases, they were able to save children who had survived the ordeal, despite being buried beneath layers of rubble and debris.

The Greek mission consisted of 36 officers of the 1st and 2nd EMAK (Special Disaster Response Unit), two officers – engineers of the Fire Brigade with specialization in supporting the ruins of collapsed buildings, eight doctors and ambulance service paramedics, three rescue dogs and three special rescue vehicles, as well as the head of the Organisation for Anti-Seismic Planning and Protection (OASP), Professor Efthymis Lekkas.

The Greek foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, also paid a visit to Turkey where he met with his counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

After a brief meeting at the airport, the two ministers boarded a helicopter to the quake-hit province of Hatay.

They visited the rescue operations center in Antakya and look into more ways for Greece to aid Turkey in these times of emergency.