Kayaköy, the Empty Hillside Town
On a hillside in south-west Türkiye stand hundreds of roofless stone houses, empty for a century.
What was reported
Kayaköy, once called Levissi, was a town of Greek Orthodox Christians near Fethiye. After the Greco-Turkish war, the population exchange agreed between Greece and Turkey in 1923 sent its people to Greece, while Muslims from Greece were moved to Turkey, but few settled in Kayaköy.
Its houses and churches were left to crumble, and an earthquake in 1957 damaged them further. Today hundreds of ruined houses climb the hill.
Explanations offered
It's preserved as a museum village and inspired the town in Louis de Bernières' novel Birds Without Wings. Its emptiness reflects one of the 20th century's great population exchanges, not a mystery.
- When
- Emptied in 1923
- Where
- Kayaköy, Fethiye, Muğla, Türkiye
- Witnesses
- Former residents and visitors
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.