Author Topic: Fiction versus Fact  (Read 3566 times)

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Offline Colwyn

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Fiction versus Fact
« on: September 08, 2006, 13:33:30 PM »
Kayakoyu is usually cited as the inspiration for Bernieres' book "Birds Without Wings". The fictional small town is characterized by its mixed "Turk"/"Greek" population. I put inverted commas around Turk and Greek since Berneires suggests that intermarriage between the groups over the years has meant that they are genetically overlapping. Nor are the Greeks different because they speak Greek - they don't. Therefore the difference between the two comunities is that one is historically Muslim and the other Christian. In the book the two religious communities live in harmony until the First World War. In the 1920s the Greeks are sent away and the Turks continue to live in the village without its Greek population.

In contrast the real Kayakoyu seems to have been an almost entirely Greek settlement and was left deserted after the population exchanges in the 1920s. This suggests to me that Bernieres produces a very romanticized version of the harmony that used to exist in mixed communities. Perhaps the truth is more that the coexistence was based on segregated, rather than mixed, communities in the Ottoman Empire?

The Bernieres story is very attractive, and it would be nice to believe it, but is it plausible? Any of you local people got any thoughts on this?



Offline GordonA

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Fiction versus Fact
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2006, 14:12:59 PM »
Hello Colwyn,
 I've read this book twice, believe it or not!! I found it difficult to get my head around at first, then became totally intrigued by the whole subject matter, & couldn't put it down. How-ever, it wasn't just the Greek population who were forcibly removed, but anyone who was non-Muslim. Kaya Koyu population then consisted of; Armenians, Jews,& Christians & they all had to go. No assistance with re-location, no help for the aged/infirm, no compensation for loss of their homes.
Gordy.

Offline Colwyn

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Fiction versus Fact
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2006, 14:21:54 PM »
Sorry Gordy, I didn't quite understand. Was that in real life or in the book? Were there Turks living in (the real) Kayakoyu at the time of the First World War? If so, what happened to them?

Offline GordonA

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Fiction versus Fact
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2006, 14:52:28 PM »
In real life.  History would have us belive that"only" Greek citizens were forcibly repatriated, whereas, in fact, any one who was not Muslim suffered, this occurred in 1922. Damn!!, could be in trouble with authorities now!!!!
Gordy.: :)[8]

Offline philrose

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Fiction versus Fact
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2006, 16:18:28 PM »
The repatriation was a direct result of the treaty signed after the Turkish Greek conflict 1919-22. So this would have been an exchange of Turkish\Greek citizens only, religion did not enter into it.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2006, 05:56:28 AM by philrose »

Offline KKOB

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Fiction versus Fact
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2006, 17:40:59 PM »
Yes, there were Turks living here before the war. Although Turkey and therefore "Turks" didn't actually exist until 1923. It was a very mixed nation.

The Greeks lived mostly in the village built on the side of the hill and were the artisans and traders of the village. It's probably very un-PC to say it now but the Greeks were the much better educated of the area's population.

The Turks were mainly farmers and lived then, and still do, on the very fertile plain of the Kaya Valley. The river which flooded the valley did so annually until about 30 years ago and on the Belen side of the valley, where we live, was a lake. You can still see how the water settles in the area in the winter months if you approach the village on the road out of Fethiye past the tomb of Amintas.

Most of the Turks who were repatriated from Greece and sent to Kaya Koyu were from farming communities and dispersed throughout Turkey. That's why the "Ghost Village" became so.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2006, 17:41:37 PM by KKOB »

Offline Colwyn

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Fiction versus Fact
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2006, 17:58:07 PM »
Thanks KKOB, this makes sense of it for me.

Offline victoria

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Fiction versus Fact
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2006, 16:29:50 PM »
Sorry Colwyn you are wrong!!!! There are old buildings in Belen and Geciler where many Turks lived after the exchange. There were 5 judges appointed for the Fethiye area and three of them covered Fethiye and Kaya Koy. There were approx 10,000 Greeks in Kaya around the time of the exchange and probably  3 - 4000 Turks, so Kaya was predominately Greek. After the exchange many of the returning Turks dispersed. Also when the Greeks left Kaya it affected many Turks who depended on their trading with the Greeks, they therefore left Kaya. Most of the skilled tradespeople in Kaya were Greek and the Turks worked the lands. Many Kaya turks also went down into Fethiye to start again. I think the book reflects this and dont think De Berniere has got his facts wrong.

Offline Bill

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Fiction versus Fact
« Reply #8 on: September 29, 2006, 16:10:21 PM »
I think it was probably true that a "Greek" was really just a Turkish Christian who belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church, and that it wa religious rather than ethnic cleansing. Kaya was not the only place this happened - Kalkan was also a Greek (or Christian) settlement, and you can see looking at the mosque there that it has originally been a church - quite similar in style to the ones at Kaya. I've also been told that the ruinous state of the houses in Kaya was because the Turks believed that the Greeks, thinking that they would eventually be allowed back, hid their momey and valuables in the walls of their houses. When the Greeks left, the Turks ripped the housers apart, looking for these non-existent valuables.




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