turkish-greek civic dialogue - AEGEE Europe

The specific area was chosen quite accidentally. At that time it was a swampy
uninhabited area where nothing indicated it could host people, life and human
activity.
The end of August 1922, the Greek flags were lowered in Asia Minor. Following
the tragic fall of 1922, the Lausanne Treaty was signed, which arbitrates not
only international issues but also Greek-Turkish issues, like the borders of the
two countries, the minorities, and the exchange of population. And it is this
exchange of population that forced over 1,5 million Greeks to abandon their
homes, their fortunes, the land where they, their fathers and forefathers lived
for more than 2,500 years and uprooted take the road to refuge.
A large group of people – members of 90 families from the Ionian small towns of
Makri and Livisi – one cloudy cold morning of November of 1923 arrived here, on
the rocks of Xylokerisa in Attica, all beaten by adverse fate and the pain of life,
however armed with courage and steel determination for a better tomorrow.
They were not allowed to bring anything with them; only a few clothes and the
will to live. On this very land we set out foot on, live and enjoy today, there
was nothing but woods and a barren land with pine trees and small bushes.
Right next were the swamps full of water snakes, mosquitoes and leeches. The
only inhabitants were 10 shepherds’ families.
Building of the houses started in the spring of 1924 and continued until 1927. The
houses were distributed by drawing lots. As soon as one house was completed
the family entitled to it moved in. Water was brought from the monastery of
Agia Paraskevi and the first fountain was built under the great pine tree of
the central square. Life started to flow. Malaria was decimating older people
and children and there were no doctors or medicines until 1934, when the
draining works were carried out in the area by the Rockefeller Foundation. The
newcomers drew wells, started cultivating and selling their corps up to the
areas of the Messogaia plain and Kifissia. And they flourished.
In our present day, Nea Makri, the area the refugees landed on in 1922, is
converted step by step into a real paradise. The habitation, economic and
touristic development of Nea Makri in the last years has been rapid. It stretches
in 33,662 acres and the permanent habitants are 13,000. As a touristic resort
in the summer it reaches 55,000 – 60,000 inhabitants since many people own
summer houses in the area.
Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe
LOCAL COMMUNITY IMPACT
The Turkish Greek Civic Dialogue Project events all had unique impact on
the local community where the events took place. All the activities were
organised in collaboration and participation with city councils, municipalities,
universities, colleges and local NGOs from Sakarya to İstanbul. However, the
local community impact of the KayaFest, the way it influenced and changed
the life of a village and its villagers is particularly striking.
The involvement of villagers into the project had started at the very beginning
of the planning phase. The Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue Project Coordination
Team gathered members from AEGEE-Ankara and prepared three case study
trips to Kayaköy with the aim to learn expectations of villagers and other
relevant stakeholders, to get to know about the village and its story, to share
the ideas we had, to see their reactions, to conduct feasibilility and make
measurements on the land. We also had numerous never ending meetings with
the “muhtar” village head Erkan Kaya, KayaKöy Cooperative, Fethiye Chamber
of Architects, Fethiye Promotion Foundation- FETAV, Fethiye local newspapers,
Fethiye Municipalitiy, Muğla Governorship, Fethiye Museum, TÜRSAB, villagers,
pension and restaurant owners at the village as well as primary schools,
gendarmeries, fire brigade, Turkish Telecom, travel agencies, boat operators.
Finally, the villagers and all local stakholders contributed very well to the
content, logistics and the programme of the festival.
At the beginning both the infrastructure of the village and the mind-set of
villagers and architects didn’t really portray a positive situation as to organise
a peace festival in the Kaya village. The village did not have decent asphalted
roads, especially the basin where we wanted to locate our main stage was very
dusty as a deserted land. There were simply no lights for the illimunation of
the cultural heritage on old rock houses and churches, no public phone booths,
not enough toilets for public use. Apart from that, there was no statistical data
about the village, no one knew exactly how many households were living in
the village, how many of them could host how many people. There was not
any map of the village. We were quite thankful to receive the drawings of
the British couple who are living in the village. A second challenge was the
KayaFest Youth and Culture Festival
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