At 6:53 p.m. on April 24, 1957, the sun set over the Kaya Cukuru plateau a few kilometers inland from the Turquoise Coast of southwestern Turkey. It was another serene evening, like so many before it in this land of sublime beauty. The calm only lasted a couple of hours before the ground began to shake violently. An earthquake of terrific force suddenly struck without warning, causing catastrophic levels of damage. In the nearby city of Fethiye, hundreds of buildings collapsed. Part of the city’s harbor broke off and fell into the sea. Massive plumes of dust from rubble filled the air. This was just the beginning of what would prove to be a long and unforgettable night.
Early the next morning, less than an hour before sunrise, another earthquake struck. The first one had been bad enough, registering a 7.1 on the Richter Scale. The second one was even worse in both scale and duration, registering a 7.3 and lasting twice the length of the first one. In the hills above Fethiye, on the Kaya Cukuru plateau, the town of Kayakoy sustained massive damage. Strangely enough, there was not a single casualty because no one lived in Kayakoy anymore. All the inhabitants had vanished thirty-five years earlier.
Home Alone – Modern Ruins
Fifteen years ago, I traveled to Turkey and to visit the ancient historical sites found not far off the country’s western coast. These included famous places such as Bergama and Ephesus. Along the way, I spent time in a couple of coastal cities, Kusadasi and Fethiye. The latter was a revelation due to its combination of natural beauty and ancient wonders. I was able to take boat trips and soak up sun by the seaside. I also visited Lycian rock tombs which predated the Romans. The most famous of these, the Tomb of Amyntas, stood inside a mountain. It was photogenic in the extreme, an unforgettable construction carved seamlessly into the stone. The Lycian find was surprising, but not entirely unexpected since Turkey is known for its ancient ruins. Lycians, Lydians, Phrygians, Greeks, and Romans all called western Turkey home.
What I did not expect to find close to Fethiye were modern as well as ancient ruins. On a short excursion south of the city I went with a group up a winding road which climbed onto the Kaya Cukuru plateau. Beneath a burning autumn sun stood Kayakoy, an early 20th century ghost town haunted by the loss of its former inhabitants. Approximately 350 houses, skeletons of their former selves, stood weather beaten and deteriorating in the suffocating heat. The 1957 earthquake sent these houses into an irreparable state of decline. Their dilapidation added to an atmosphere of loneliness and loss. People spoke in hushed tones out of respect for the undead spirits that seemed to still be lurking in the shadows. Walking through one abandoned home after another felt like being part of a funeral procession where the attendees had arrived a century too late. Every glassless window, cracked stone façade, and vacant interior offered a reminder that people once called these structures home. Two churches and several chapels now were empty. The silence within them spoke volumes.
Trade Offs – The Population Exchange
In the 18th century, the Ottoman Sultan invited Orthodox Greeks from offshore islands to settle on the Kaya Cukru plateau. They created the town of Livissi (Karakoy in Turkish). Its population eventually grew to 10,000 by the turn of the 20th century. Two-thirds of the inhabitants were Orthodox Greeks and one-third Muslim Turks. The Greeks occupied the upper part of town and were mostly artisans. The Muslim Turks farmed the valley below. The two groups relied on each other for trade. Their relations were friendly and peaceful, continuing that way even during the First World War and afterwards as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
In Turkey, World War I was not the proverbial war to end all wars because it only led to another one in its immediate aftermath. This had consequences far beyond what anyone might have imagined. During the 1919- 1922 Greco-Turkish War the Greeks looked to expand their presence in the western part of Anatolia. Their campaign went badly awry. The Turks were fighting for their national existence as well as their independence. Anatolia was their homeland. Thus, they were going to defend it to the death. Greek nationalists underestimated the Turks, which turned out to be an epic mistake. It would be hell to pay and not just by the Greek soldiers who were cut to pieces by the Turkish counterattack. The inhabitants of villages such as Karakoy would end paying for the mistakes as well.
Greco-Turkish relations in other parts of Anatolia turned extremely violent. Massacres were common. The same thing happened to Turks in Greece. This led to the idea of a population exchange, what might be called a peaceful ethnic cleansing, if there ever was such a thing. It would ensure that Turkey and Greece were religiously homogenous. The upshot was that the Greeks in Livissi were forced to leave in 1923. Many of the Turks they had known their entire lives accompanied them to the harbor in Fethiye where boats would take them to a “homeland” they knew nothing about. At least 1.2 million ethnic Greeks left Turkey, while 300,000 ethnic Turks expelled from Greece.
Getting Personal – One Empty House
I knew little about the Greco-Turkish population exchange before arriving in Karakoy. By the end of that afternoon, I knew I would never forget it. While I was aware of Turkish-Greek enmity, to see tangible proof of the results was disturbing. Karakoy’s ruins were unsettling in the extreme, a product of their recent vintage. While ancient ruins feel distant, modern ones are too close for comfort. I could see people still living here, people like me. Once you can imagine yourself as a participant, a place from the past takes on a whole different meaning. Karakoy felt deeply personal, rather than political. One and a half million Greeks and Turks in a population exchange is nothing more than a statistic, one empty house in Karakoy is a tragedy.
Click here for: Lusting For Life – Boldgoko Castle: History Without Humanity (Rendezvous With An Obscure Destiny #40)