Until a few years ago, no one would have bet on the project of three young Greeks: to open a Hellenic café in the Turkish city of Izmir. There has always been a high level of rivalry between Greeks and Turks, but what divided the way of the two peoples was mainly what is considered in Greece to be the "catastrophe of 1922," where the Turkish army defeated the Greek army in Izmir itself, slaughtering the city's Greek Orthodox community.
It was in Izmir that the three entrepreneurs wanted to open the Island of Mastic bar, with a reference to the mastic tree, an evergreen shrub on the Greek island of Chios, from which the resin for chewing gum is made.
In a short time the café became so popular that it was dubbed "the café of reconciliation" where the weapons of diplomacy are baklava, coffee, and American gum. The cafe's success is symbolic but hints at a deeper appeasement that began in 2008 with the former Greek premier's visit to Ankara.
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