Every year for the past 20 years, swimmers from Datça a port town in southwestern Turkey, participate in a swimming contest with swimmers from the Greek island of Symi.
The athletes start off at their respective ports, and meet in the middle.
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Municipality of Symi announced that the event won't take place this year.
On the other side, the Mayor of Datça, Gursel Ucar, decided that the 'important tradition' should continue.
On the day of the event, September 1, the Turkish swimmers who participated sent a message of peace to their Greek friends, holding up a banner that stated “Peace will win” written in Turkish, Greek and English.
1 Eylül Dünya Barış Günü Yüzüşü pic.twitter.com/CN1cegR3Xs
— Datça Belediyesi (@datcabelediyesi) September 1, 2020
