Kayaköy is an abandoned village in southwest Turkey. It was anciently known in Greek as Carmylessus ( grc, Καρμυλησσός), shortened to Lebessos ( grc, Λεβέσσος) and pronounced in Modern Greek as Leivissi ( el, Λειβίσσι), lies 8 km south of Fethiye in southwestern Turkey in the old Lycia province. From Ancient Greek the town name shifted to Koine Greek by the Roman period, evolved into

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...

in the Middle Ages, and finally became the Modern Greek name still used by its townspeople before their final evacuation in 1923. In late antiquity the inhabitants of the region had become

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

and, following the East-West Schism with the Catholic Church in 1054 AD, they came to be called Greek Orthodox Christian. These Greek-speaking Christian subjects, and their

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

-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 the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, and the subsequent

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the conflic ...

in 1923, the town's Greek Orthodox residents were exiled from Livissi. The massacres 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 bereaved of their properties and became refugees in Greece, or they died in Ottoman forced labour battalions (cf. ''

Number 31328 ''Number 31328'' ( el, Το Νούμερο 31328) is an autobiographical novel by Elias Venezis. It tells of his experiences as a captive of the Turkish Army on a death march into the Anatolian interior. Background During the Greek genocide, ...

'', an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

by a Greek-speaking novelist from a similar coastal town in Turkey). Following these events the Allied victors in World War I authorized the occupation of Smyrna, which still had many Greek inhabitants, by Greece in May 1919. This led to the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, the subsequent defeat of Greece, and the

in 1923. That treaty contained a protocol, the population 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 in Istanbul). The treaty also required that Greece's Muslim citizens permanently leave Greece for Turkey (with an exception for Muslims living in Greek 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. The ghost 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 nearby Ölüdeniz. Kayaköy panorama

The village is now empty except for tour groups and roadside vendors selling handmade goods. However, there is a selection of houses which have been restored, and are currently occupied.

History

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 a

bishopric in the '' Notitia Episcopatuum'' of Pseudo-Epiphanius composed under the Byzantine Emperor

Heraclius Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exa ...

in about 640, and in the similar early 10th-century document attributed to Emperor Leo VI the Wise, as a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

of the metropolitan see of

Myra Myra ( grc, Μύρα, ''Mýra'') was a Lycian, then ancient Greek, then Greco-Roman, then Byzantine Greek, then Ottoman town in Lycia, which became the small Turkish town of Kale, renamed Demre in 2005, in the present-day Antalya Province of ...

, the capital of the Roman province of Lycia, to which Lebessus belonged. Since it is no longer a residential bishopric, Lebessus is listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Livissi is probably the place where the inhabitants of Byzantine Gemiler Island fled to protect themselves from pirates. It experienced a renewal after nearby Fethiye (known as Makri) 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 campaign against 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 Sir

Alfred Biliotti Sir Alfred Biliotti (14 July 1833 – 1915) was a levantine Italian who joined the British Foreign Service and eventually rose to become one of its most distinguished consular officers in the late 19th century. He was one of the first reporters ...

, 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 to

Denizli Denizli is an industrial city in the southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about . Denizli is located in the country's Aegean Region. ...

, around 220 km away. There, they suffered various extreme atrocities and tortures, facing even death. According to local tradition, Muslims refused to repopulate the place because it was "infested with the ghosts of Livisians massacred in 1915". Two more exile phases followed in 1917 and 1918. In 1917, families were sent in villages near Denizli, such as Acıpayam, through forced march of fifteen days, consisting mainly of the elderly, women and children, who had remained in the area. During that death 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 the

Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, ota, گرب جابهاسی, Garb Cebhesi) in Turkey, and the Asia Minor Campaign ( el, Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία, Mikrasiatikí Ekstrateía) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe ( el, Μικ ...

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 of Nea Makri (New Makri) outside of Athens. Many of the town's empty buildings were damaged in the

1957 Fethiye earthquake The first of the 1957 Fethiye earthquakes occurred on April 24, 1957, with the second and larger event about seven hours later on the following day. Both earthquakes had epicentres in the eastern Mediterranean between Rhodes and the coastal ci ...

Kayaköy today

Today Kayaköy village serves as a museum and is a historical monument. Around 500 houses remain as ruins and are under the protection of the Turkish government, including two Greek Orthodox Churches, which remain the most important sites of the ghost town. 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 by UNESCO 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."

Economy

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.

In popular culture

Kayaköy is presumed to be the inspiration behind "Eskibahçe", the imaginary village chosen by Louis de Bernières as the setting of his 2004 novel ''

Birds Without Wings ''Birds Without Wings'' is a novel by Louis de Bernières, written in 2004. Narrated by various characters, it tells the tragic love story of Philothei and Ibrahim. It also chronicles the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the 'Father of the Turk ...

''. In 2014, Kayaköy also took centre stage in the closing scenes of

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

's film '' The Water Diviner''. In Clive Cussler's novel '' The 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 a Lycian tomb on the Turkish Riviera.

References

Abandoned Kayaköy a symbol of war's painful consequences
Hurriyet Daily News, Monday, 18 October 2010
Kayaköy panoramic image December, 2012

External links