The Final Years of a Shared Town
Neighbourly Relations
Muslim and Greek Orthodox families shared the market, streets and economic life. Family oral history remembers close neighbourly relations in the words “we were like siblings.”
Shared Languages
Greek was important in the community’s schools, church and written culture. Turkish also appears as a shared language of daily contact, trade and some wedding traditions.
Shared Economy
Sericulture, vineyards and gardens, shops, the railway and the local market connected different communities within the same economic networks.
Shared Culture in Memory
Memories describe playing games involving letters and the alphabet with Greek Orthodox children.
Family memory recalls Turkish folk songs being sung at Greek Orthodox weddings.
The cleanliness of the neighbourhoods and neighbourly relations are recalled positively.
The church bell, cross and neighbourhood buildings form part of the town’s shared visual memory.
Lefke’s Transformation from the 1920s to the Population Exchange
Population and Space
The war years and the subsequent population exchange resulted in the departure of the Greek Orthodox community, which had been part of Lefke for centuries. The functions of the church, school, cemetery, houses and neighbourhoods consequently changed.
The Continuity of Memory
The research seeks to make shared everyday life before the departure visible again through personal names, family memories, photographs, school and church records, occupations, songs and places.
Silvia’s Testimony
Silvia Hacımihalidu’s published recollection describes hiding in the home of Ali and his family during the war. This testimony is treated as a source separate from the project’s family oral history.
Nine months of shelter, the name “Ali Dikici” and the limits of the evidence · Source transmission
Contribute to the Research
If you have photographs, documents, gravestone records or family accounts relating to Lefke, please share them with us.
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