Before traveling to Turkey, I understood Greek-Turkish relations primarily through stories of conflict. Much of what I knew came from theology classes and conversations with a former professor who was himself a Greek Orthodox priest. Throughout this course, we discussed the population exchanges of the twentieth century and the changing identity of Hagia Sophia. Those conversations gave me an important historical foundation, but they also shaped the way I imagined the relationship between Greeks and Turks. I understood that Christians and Muslims had lived alongside one another for centuries, yet I assumed the wounds of history were too deep for genuine coexistence in the present.

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