Kayaköy | |
|---|---|
 Abandoned houses at Kayaköy | |
  Kayaköy Location in Turkey Show map of Turkey Kayaköy Kayaköy (Turkey Aegean) Show map of Turkey Aegean | |
| Coordinates:36°34′30″N29°5′28″E / 36.57500°N 29.09111°E /36.57500; 29.09111 | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Province | Muğla |
| District | Fethiye |
| Population (2022) | 975 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (TRT) |
Kayaköy (also:Kaya orLivissi) is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district ofFethiye,Muğla Province,Turkey.[1] In 2022, its population was 975.[2] Situated 8 km south ofFethiye, it is mostly abandoned. It was anciently known in Greek asKarmylessos (Ancient Greek:Καρμυλησσός),[3] shortened to Lebessos (Ancient Greek:Λεβέσσος) and pronounced in Modern Greek asLeivissi (Greek:Λειβίσσι). From Ancient Greek the town name shifted toKoine Greek by the Roman period, evolved intoByzantine Greek in the Middle Ages, and finally became theModern Greek name still used by its townspeople before their final evacuation in 1923.
In late antiquity the inhabitants of the region had becomeChristian and, following theEast-West Schism with theChurch of Rome in 1054 AD, they came to be calledGreek Orthodox Christian. These Greek-speaking Christian subjects, and theirTurkish-speaking Muslim Ottoman rulers, lived in relative harmony from the end of the turbulent Ottoman conquest of the region in the 14th century until the early 20th century. Following theGreco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, and the subsequentTreaty of Lausanne in 1923, the town's Greek Orthodox residents were exiled from Livissi.
Themassacres of Greeks and other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire during World War I (1914–1918) led to the almost total depopulation of the town's 6,500 Greek inhabitants by 1918. These former inhabitants were deprived of their properties and became refugees in Greece, or they died in Ottomanforced labour battalions (cf.Number 31328, anautobiography by a Greek-speaking novelist from a similar coastal town in Turkey).
Following these events the Allied victors inWorld War I authorized theoccupation of Smyrna, which still had many Greek inhabitants, by Greece in May 1919. This led to theGreco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, the subsequent defeat of Greece, and theTreaty of Lausanne in 1923. That treaty contained a protocol, thepopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey, which barred permanently the return of any prior Greek Orthodox refugees to their homes in Turkey (including the previous Livissi refugees) and required that any remaining Orthodox Christian citizens of Turkey leave their homes for Greece (with an exception for Greeks living inIstanbul).
The treaty also required that Greece's Muslim citizens permanently leave Greece for Turkey (with an exception for Muslims living inGreek Thrace). Most of these Turks/Muslims from Greece were used by the Turkish state to settle its now empty Greek Christian towns, but Turks/Muslims from Greece did not wish to settle in Livissi due to rumors of ghosts of the Greeks killed there.[4][5][full citation needed]
Theghost town, now preserved as a museum village, consists of hundreds of rundown but still mostly standing Greek-style houses and churches which cover a small mountainside and serve as a stopping place for tourists visiting Fethiye and nearbyÖlüdeniz.
The village is now empty except for tour groups and roadside vendors selling handmade goods. There are a few houses which have been restored and are currently occupied.
Much of what remains of Livissi was built in the 18th century.Lycian style tombs can be found in the village and at Gokceburun north of the village.
Lebessus is mentioned as aChristianbishopric in theNotitia Episcopatuum of Pseudo-Epiphanius composed under theByzantine EmperorHeraclius in about 640, and in the similar early 10th-century document attributed to EmperorLeo VI the Wise, as asuffragan of themetropolitan see ofMyra, the capital of theRoman province ofLycia, to which Lebessus belonged.[6] Since it is no longer a residential bishopric, Lebessus is listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[7]
Livissi is probably the place where the inhabitants of ByzantineGemiler Island fled to protect themselves from pirates. It experienced a renewal after nearby Fethiye (known asMakri) was devastated by an earthquake in 1856 and a major fire in 1885. More than 20 churches and chapels were built in the village and the plain (Taxiarhes – the 'Upper' church – and 'Panayia Pyrgiotissa' – the 'lower' church – St. Anna, St. George, etc.). Most of them are still standing in ruinous or semi-ruinous condition. The village population was over 6,000 people, according to Greek and Ottoman sources.
The persecutions of Livissi inhabitants as well as Greeks of nearby Makri (Fethiye) were part of the wider campaignagainst all Ottoman Greeks and other Christians of the Empire (cf.Armenian genocide). The persecutions in the area started in 1914 in Makri. In 1916, a letter in Greek addressed to SirAlfred Biliotti, the Consul General of Great Britain at Rhodes, explained the murders and persecution of Livissi and Macri Greeks who asked him for intervention. Unfortunately, the letter was intercepted at Livissi by Turkish authorities. Later that same year, many families of Livissi were deported and driven on foot toDenizli, around 220 km away. There, they suffered various extreme atrocities and tortures, facing even death.[8] According to local tradition, Muslims refused to repopulate the place because it was "infested with the ghosts of Livisians massacred in 1915".[9]
Two more exile phases followed in 1917 and 1918.[10] In 1917, families were sent in villages near Denizli, such asAcıpayam, through forced march of fifteen days, consisting mainly of the elderly, women and children, who had remained in the area. During thatdeath march, the roads were strewn with bodies of dead children and the elderly who succumbed to hunger and fatigue. The exiles of the next year were no less harsh.
At the start of theGreco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Kayaköy was already nearly empty of its former inhabitants. When this war ended in September 1922, the few remaining Greeks of Livissi and Makri were forced to abandon their homes and embark on ships to Greece. Some of them founded the refugee settlement ofNea Makri (New Makri) outside of Athens.
Many of the town's empty buildings were damaged in the1957 Fethiye earthquake.
Today Kayaköy village serves as a museum and is a historical monument. Around 500 houses remain as ruins and are under the protection of theTurkish government, including twoGreek Orthodox Churches, which remain the most important sites of the ghost town.[11][12] There is a private museum on the history of the town. In the middle of the village stands a fountain that dates from the seventeenth century.
Some sources claim that Kayaköy was adopted byUNESCO as a World Friendship and Peace Village. However this is officially untrue, and was most likely a rumor put out by a local tourist council.
On 9 September 2014, the Turkish government announced plans to develop the village. It plans to offer a 49-year lease that will "partially open Kayaköy's archeological site to construction" and anticipated "construction of a hotel, as well as tourist facilities that will encompass one-third of the village."[13]
Villagers were mostly professional craftsmen. Currently the most important economic factor of the place is tourism. It is envisaged that the village will be partially restored.
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Kayaköy is presumed to be the inspiration behind "Eskibahçe", the imaginary village chosen byLouis de Bernières as the setting of his 2004 novelBirds Without Wings.
In 2014, Kayaköy also took centre stage in the closing scenes ofRussell Crowe's filmThe Water Diviner.
InClive Cussler's novelThe Navigator, the characters Kurt Austin and Carina Mechadi meet with a sculptor from Kayaköy, who says that he makes figurines that are based on a statue from aLycian tomb on theTurkish Riviera.
According to local tradition in the region of Fethiye in south-western Turkey, Muslims refused to repopulate the nearby town of Livisi (Kayaköy) after it was abandoned by its Rum inhabitants because it was infested with the ghosts of Livisians massacred in 1915.
Kayaköy travel guide from Wikivoyage