We published a story about a town in Turkey named Kayaköy (Levissi in Greek) that was abandoned by its inhabitants in 1922-23 when all Greeks were forced to flee.
Greeks were forced out of Turkey by the genocide against them, which prompted survivors to flee during the population exchange.
The town of Kayakoy is one of the world’s spookiest “ghost towns”— abandoned almost a century ago by people fleeing for their lives, leaving behind their possessions, homes and livelihoods.
The site is an eerily compelling and moving reminder of the sad aftermath of the World War I and subsequent Greco-Turkish War, which resulted in the massacres of tens of thousands of Greek Christians who had lived in what is now modern Turkey for centuries.
Like millions of others, the Greeks of Kayakoy were part of the population exchange of 1923 and forcibly relocated to mainland Greece.
Meanwhile, the Muslim farmers exiled from Greece at the same time found the land in Kayakoy inhospitable and soon left for other areas of Turkey, leaving the hillside village abandoned for a second time.
In 1957, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake delivered Kayakoy its final coup de grâce, destroying most of the town’s buildings. Homes and businesses around the valley floor were later restored or rebuilt, but the hillside homes and buildings have been left untouched.
Today, the hillside of Kayakoy remains deserted, never having recovered — either culturally or economically — from the mass Greek exodus in 1923. The homes, schools, shops, cafés, chapels and churches have been left to crumble, unprotected from looters and the elements.
Louis de Bernieres, the British novelist most famous for his novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, has voiced cautious reservations about the Turkish government’s plans.
His second novel, Birds Without Wings, took inspiration from the village. Published in 2004, the novel portrays the people in a small village named Eskibahçe (the fictional setting based on Kayaköy) toward the end of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Kemal Atatürk and the outbreak of WWI.
Bernieries said the potential development of Kayakoy “could either be a wonderful rebirth, or a terrible act of vandalism, depending on how sensitively it is done.”
He added that “The town cannot take motor traffic, as the streets are too narrow, and putting in infrastructure might cause damage. The restorations should be as authentic as possible, so that the former way of life is evident.”
Featured image / Jorge Fraganillo
See 20 stunning photos of Kayakoy (Lesvissi)
Is The Pappas Post worth $5 a month for all of the content you read? On any given month, we publish dozens of articles that educate, inform, entertain, inspire and enrich thousands who read The Pappas Post. I’m asking those who frequent the site to chip in and help keep the quality of our content high — and free. Click here and start your monthly or annual support today. If you choose to pay (a) $5/month or more or (b) $50/year or more then you will be able to browse our site completely ad-free!
Click here if you would like to subscribe to The Pappas Post Weekly News Update
14 comments
Livissi was used as a location in Russell Crowe’s genocide-denying movie The Water Diviner.
It may not be accurate to say that the population fled in 1923 as they were marched to boats and forced into exile after being searched for valuables on the dockside.
That is those that had survived the horrors of 1916 and 1917 when three death marches followed massacres. The survivors were taken inland to concentration camps, brutalized and murdered. From a local population of 6,500 only hundreds returned to pick up a life, before being chased away from their ancestral land.
One often wonders about everyday people who were only going about their everyday lives and were innocently caught up in world events through no fault of their own…
It would be easier to forgive the Turks what they did to our ancestors if only they would acknowledge the atrocities their ancestors committed against our people. They should take their cue from the Germans.
Wonder if my family owns land or a house in the village as they were exiled and left back then. I would assume there must be some record..?? Ha
” known as Levissi in Greek, that was abandoned by its complete Greek population in 1922-23 when all Greeks were forced to flee Turkey during the exchange of populations with Turkey. ”
Why don’t you just say what it was they Left due to Muslim /Ottoman Islamic Aggression against Greek Christians that included genocide no different then today from that radical faction
because actually, the Nationalists Turks under Ataturk were nor radical islamists. They were 100% secular and their genocide had nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with building a “Turkey for the Turks” on a national and ethnic level. Their massacres of Greeks were not Islam-based.
The Greek ?? are coming back,because God wants wants as back.
The 1923 exchange of populations was a great political victory for the Greeks. We were stuck with muslims all over Greece. To name two: 1. The population in Macedonia Greece was swapped for Christians and 2. The Turkokritiki(Turk Cretans) stuck there since the annexation of Crete in 1912 were sent over swapped for Christians. The greatest differance was that not even a nose bled.
Genocide is genocide. I have read numerous books about these atrocities, and my heart cries for the Greeks. Their music even reflects this period. I lived in Greece in the 70’s. Sti yia sas, Ellenas, agapemeni mou. I love you. Aloha nui loa.
Levissi the home of my Greek family, they migrated to Australia my grandmother arrived here in 1924. Told many stories heartbreaking…..
It is amazing to me that Greeks would occupy parts of Turkey with the help of allied forces, destroy Turkish villages and kill innumerable Turks, only to be pushed out of there by Atatürk and the Turkish army simply trying to recover their own territories on the way to building the new Turkey , try to change history and show Turks as the bad guys.
If Greece occupied the Aegean coast today, killing Turks, we would be justified to do the same thing and push them to the sea. What the hell were the occupying forces doing there in the first place ( I am talking about the Greek army ).
Study your history well people, before you feel sorry for Greeks. There was no Greek genocide.
Greeks.
Mr. Rahmi,
Your references? Where are you getting your allegations from? What historical documents can you quote to support such ideas?
Mr Rahmi
You should go back where you came from Mongolia
There was no country of turkey before atatourk you are the remnants of different Mongolian tribes so the the Greek and Armenian genoside that ataturk caused you denying it for the past 100 years. I understand that the Greeks had the factories and where the land owners and the Turks where the workers that is why ataturk chased them out what the ISIS is doing now the Muslim Turks did it to the Greeks and to the Armenians. Islam is a Christian heretic religion because Mahamed was inspired by a Christian heretic monk. The Islamist religion teaches that if you convert a Christian to Islam you are quarantined paradise.
Turks are the curse of the planet..along with their Muslim brothers they steal, kill and mame thinking they look good… Our God will deal with them in his own good time.