Turkey: Kayakoy
Kayakoy, only 8km outside of Fetthye, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Until 1920, Kayakoy was known as Karmylassos, a mostly Greek-populated small mountain town in coastal Turkey, with roots going back to Ancient Greece. During World War I, massive massacres of Greeks by the Ottoman Empire happened here and most of the inhabitants left for Greece as refuges. In 1923, following Greek defeat in the Greek-Turkish War, the Population Exchange Treaty was signed and all remaining Greeks left Turkey for Greece, while all Turks and Muslims in general left Greece for Turkey. As a result, Kayakoy became an abandoned town of burned out walls and building frames, occupying a vast hilly terrain. It’s a very sad and depressing area and a UNESCO World Heritage site, a monument to tragedies of ethnic wars and cleansing.
