Turkish Greek Population Exchange
Turkey is full of ancient cities, tombs and ruins. The area has been inhabitated longer than anywhere in the world and the land has seen many rulers. The city of Kayaköy is a remnant of past lives, last inhabited by Greek Orthodox Christians until the population exchange of 1923. One sunny morning, we joined several other expats on a 4 mile hike from Fethiye over the mountain to see the ghost town.
After modern Turkey was established under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (his face is everywhere, statues of him stand tall in every city), Greek Orthodox Christians were being persecuted in Turkey, as Muslims were in Greece. [The powers that be] envisioned the population exchange as a way to formalize and make permanent the flight of native Greek Orthodox peoples while initiating a new exodus of a smaller number (400,000) of Muslims from Greece as a way to provide settlers for the newly depopulated Orthodox villages of Turkey; Greece meanwhile saw it as a way to provide propertyless Greek Orthodox refugees from Turkey with lands of expelled Muslims.
It is estimated that on grounds of religion alone, over 1.5 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes - and at least a third died in refugee camps or in other horrific ways, never reaching their new homes. And sadly, all of the displaced shared culture and ethnicity with their neighbors, even though their religions may have differed. Many of the abandoned villages belonging to these people were never inhabited by the newly exchanged and remain empty to this day.
Disclaimer: I have no doubt there are various interpretations of these events based on where one is from but there is no dispute that it was devastating for everyone involved.
The hike itself had beautiful views and went through a small farming village where we loved seeing the sheep and cows on the road. The dog is a Kangol, a Turkish breed that protects herds of goat and sheep from wolves, jackals, etc. They are huge and wear very large spiked metal collars around their necks that protect them from predators. This one seemed friendly but we didn’t try to pet him.
The village is kept up by a preservation organization to tell the story of what happened in 1923. The hollow homes are a stark reminder of all that was lost.
