Kayaköy: The Troubled Village That Was Abandoned Twice.

Once a thriving village, now a haunting ruin. Kayaköy, Turkey’s forgotten town, was abandoned not once, but twice—its tragic history shaped by war, disaster, and forced migration. Here’s its story.

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[rueh]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels in the whistlerverse

[danielreuben]

The first five minutes of the video made me really happy. Two different cultures with different beliefs getting along? What a wonderful concept/idea.

[SolaScientia]

I hadn't heard of this one before, but as soon as I knew the city's population was majority Greek I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen.

[Bubbaist]

We usually think of WWII when it comes to atrocities against civilians, but WWI had its own orgies of civilian blood, especially in eastern and southern Europe.

[Onora]

It's been almost 20 years since I've visited Turkey, but visiting Kayaköy (also called spelled/pronounced Kaya for the English-speaking folks) was awesome and I remember thinking it was super cool at age 17; l could even imagine the hominess some of the skeletons of the ruins could have once held before/in spite of the ugliness of politics/war. The colorfulness that once have decorated their walls and the spice of their food.

Narrow streets offered as much community as it did claustrophobia in the streets during the height ofthe day. Probably the wonderful smell of Turkish and/or Greek cuisine drifted over the village calling the working folk home. Until the dark shadow of war came again and again until it finally withered and died and only the bones remain. At least we still have the skeleton to appreciate. Like the bones of an ancient ancestor of us all.

You could understand how that area could be considered home, in spite of it all the chaos, and how sorrowful it was that such horrible human behavior preyed upon the residents. Back when I visited in 2006, they didn't charge to visit. If you so choose, you could just walk around and marvel at almost-ancient buildings and imagine what once was. Sad as the history is, it was an honor to visit the village, especially when I'm all the way from America and had never heard of it. It was a delightful surprise while traveling. Looks like they charge these days (it's fair if it upkeeps the ruins) and IMO definitely worth the trip if you wanna feel the "ghosts" of a community that once was x2 and would support the economy.

Strong recommend for a visit if you're nearby. If you haven't been to Pompeii (granted I haven't either, but it's on my bucket list) it seems like it's the next best thing. Total snapshot in time and you can explore the ruins.

[WardyLion]

I *think* I’ve been there.

Back in the late 1980’s I was taken on my first holiday abroad, aged about 5, to Turkey. I remember going to a ghost town but not what it was called. However seeing the footage rings a few bells. There weren’t so many tourist facilities back then, but a very friendly local woman did sell food and allow tourists to use her own house’s toilet.

I recall most people in Turkey to be very friendly and welcoming.

[Zurvan]

I went to Kayakoy in 2001, the place had about two families and hundreds of goats.

[celticlass]

Nice effect, having some of the Father Christmas snow sticking to Simon. 😀

[sbsstorytelling]

What an amazing history of one little town. It seems that almost everything has happened to/in it!

[terryenby]

Makes me think of St Kilda

I really like this channel!

[kperaki]

1.500.000 Greeks got exchanged with 500.000 Turks. In general these Greeks were much richer than the Turks which were mostly peasants working the lands, where the Greeks were mostly rich citydwellers or rich landowners.
So at the end one in three Greeks got one rundown landhouse and each Turk got 3 upperclass houses/businesses.
As you can calculate by yourself it was not a fair exchange by any way...

[MusicalRaichu]

My father's family came from Smyrna and had to flee as refugees to Alexandria. I never found out what happened to my grandfather though. It's interesting to find out some of the events of the era.

[MasterOfWarLordOfPeace]

2:12 Calling gözleme a type of pancake is like calling a stack of blank tortillas a type of lasagna.

[maxwellt]

And I'm sure turkey denies this to this day smh

[ZeRehan]

New content! Always great to see a video drop. 😊

[Kaltagstar]

I wish that AI images weren't used as often in these videos, also it's a damn tragedy that you had people from distinct religious groups getting along and living peacefully and then war had to come along and ruin everything almost overnight.

[Byebyebye]

I mean wouldn't something like troy be the ultime ghost town?
It's been destroyed 8 times or something if i remember correct?

[zorbratron]

not too sure if you have done a video on st Nicholas already if not please can you do one. he was a rather interesting priest.

[Jayjay-qeum]

Kayakoy is presumed to be the inspiration behind "Eskibahce", the imaginary village chosen by Louis de Bernieres as the setting of his 2004 novel Birds Without Wings.

In 2014, Kayakoy also took centre stage in the closing scenes of Russell Crowe's film The Water Diviner.

[damiensadventure]

Do you get to the Upper District very often?
Oh.. heh... What am I saying.

😂