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In addition to the churches
two schools are features of the settlement that illustrate the
way of life in the settlement. These were devoted to the
education of the children, with boys and girls in Levissi
attending separate schools. The Girls' School is located on the
elevation above the Turabi Fountain, and the Boys' School is on
the peak of the hill to the north-west of the Upper Church. An
inscription from the Girls' School is presently exhibited at the
Fethiye Museum, and it states that the building was constructed
by Lövisidi Brothers. The schools were only for primary
education where lessons were taught in the Greek language. The
students were subsequently sent to Rhodes, Athens and Istanbul
for further education.
The general water supply was acquired by the cisterns collecting
rainwater from the roofs of the houses. Drinking water was
carried from the fountains, one at the entrance of the village
and one near the Girls' School. The Turabi Fountain has porches
facing the main and side streets. There is an inscription
depicting the date of its construction as 1919.
Another group of notable buildings at Levissi are the windmills.
The windmill on the hill to the south, approximately 100 meters
to the west of the Western Chapel, faces the breeze from the sea.
The other windmill is located on the peak of Değirmentepe at the
south-west of the Kaya Valley. They were circular constructions
with two floors and at present only the main outer walls remain.
The square to the north of the Upper Church used to be the
market place of the city. The buildings there are not
recognizable today but it was ascertained that there used to be
coffee-houses, butchers, greengrocers, grocery stores and
sellers of material here.
During the Population Exchange, the people migrating from
Levissi and Fethiye were settled in the Nea Makri region near
Athens. Information about Levissi as a thriving community were
obtained from the migrating Greeks and the Turks who remained at
Kaya Village. Some of this information is contained in the
publications of the Istanbul Metropolitan Branch of the Chamber
of Architects and it is from this source that some of the
information given in this book, not obvious from the present
state of the settlement, has been derived. Based on the mutual
exchange agreement between the Turkish and Greek governments, it
was decided that the Greeks leaving the City of Levissi in 1923
should migrate to Greece by boats from the harbour in Fethiye.
The smaller number of Turks from Western Thrace that were
brought in to replace them, were not pleased with the conditions
at the Kaya Village and moved to other regions in Anatolia
largely to settle nearer to their relatives.
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The Greeks in Levissi used to earn their living in the fields of trade
and handicrafts. The craftsmen such as carpenters, coppersmiths, tinkers
and blacksmiths were also itinerant. The women generally took care of
the household chores and worked on weaving in their spare time. As
previously stated, boys and girls attended obligatory primary education
in the Greek language. They then had to travel to Rhodes, Istanbul or
Athens, for higher education. Outside of their schools, working and
religious lives, the Turks and the Greeks went to the same coffee-houses,
spent much of their time together and were well integrated; however,
inter-marriages were not favoured.
The evil which is war, tore these two communities apart and caused
untold pain and suffering to the people who were forced to forsake their
homes, their towns, their loved friends and their memories. This was
true for both sides of the population exchange.
Up to now much has been written and symposiums, forums, conferences and
meetings have been held about Kayaköy. With the best of intentions,
Kayaköy has been proclaimed as a Turkish-Greek Friendship Village. This
seems befitting for the people of the present time and in an effort to
further and reinforce this friendship, it is planned that the abandoned
buildings at Levissi should be renovated to give them a longer life-span
and to protect them from further destruction by natural forces.
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