Mesopotamia, Greece
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Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, local Slavic: Chetirok, Четирок ) is a municipality in the Kastoria Prefecture, Greece, population 4,100 (2001).
The municipality is also known as Aliakmonas, named after the river Aliakmonas. The town of Mesopotamia is the seat of the municipality of Aliakmonas. The only residents were native to the village and were there before the Ottoman period. They spoke Greek as a second language. Their primary language was the local Slavic language.
[edit] Sights
Mesopotamia has three Byzantine style churches. The most recent and largest is that of the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul. The oldest church is the church of St.Constantine and St.Helen which contains the village cemetery, and the church of Saint Demetrios. The chapel of St. George is a few kilometers outside of the village.
Mesopotamia is also the seat of Greek Macedonian culture. For centuries before the Pontians populated the village, there were Macedonian Greeks that founded Mesopotamia, and spoke both Greek and a dialect of Cyrilic. There is a Macedonian cultural center that teaches Macedonian traditional dance and music utilizing traditional brass and woodwind instruments. The Pontian Greeks were brought to the village in the early 20th century during the population exchange with Turkey.This exchange marked the darkest point in Greek-Turkish relations, because the Pontian Greeks and Armenians that came into Greece during the exchange, were greatly oppressed by the Turkish government. Millions of Armenians were killed and an equally alarming amount of Greeks were also slaughtered.
There is a Pontian Greek Cultural Center as well. This center supports and preserves the Pontian culture. It holds annual ceremonies on May 19 commemorating the Pontian Genocide at the Forest of Mesopotamia near the Aliakmon River. It maintains an active and growing dance group were people can go to learn Pontian dance. In addition, people can also learn how to play traditional Pontian musical instruments like the Pontian lyra, zourna, and tulum at the center. Finally, the town also has bars and nightclubs the serve the local population.
[edit] Economy
Mesopotamia is a rural residential community. Its economy is entirely dependent on the agriculture of wheat. It also houses small private fur industry that is outsourced from the major fur traders of Kastoria. As the seat of the Aliakmonas municipality, Mesopotamia contains the Aliakmonas Municipal Building. It also contains a pharmacy, and a supermarket. The community of Mesopotamia has recently been linked to a branch of Northern Greece's brand new Egnatia Odos highway.
[edit] Sport
Mesopotamia has a football (soccer) team called Astrapi Mesopotamia or simply Astrapi (Grk.Αστραπή)and its'origin year is believed to be in the mid 1950's, 1956-1957. It hosts games at the Municipal stadium of Mesopotamia. Currently the team plays in the fourth division of Greece. In 2006 Astrapi finished 8th in its division.
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