The villages of Bornova, Hacilar, Narlikoy, Pinarbasi, Kokluca

THE VILLAGES OF BORNOVA - HACILAR - NARLIKÖY - PINARBAŞI - KOKLUCA, Nico Kararas, 1958

I am grateful to Mrs Beatrice Farmaki of Athens, a descent of the Smyrniot families Arealis and Dubravich for having found and sent to me this rare book of Nico Kararas. Below is my translation, Alex Baltazzi, November 2012

“Beautiful villages of Smyrna,
With your exquisite mountains.
I was born for you
I can’t stay away”
(G. Bontzalides)

This village was situated East of Bornova at a distance of five kilometres. We do not know the reason of its name probably- hacıs- pilgrims on their way back from Mecca were installed here. According to Latri this village existed since the Roman period and had the name of Einouda.

The Dutch Corneille Lebrun who visited Izmir in 1678 mention that there were some ruins of a Temple.

The British Edmund Chishull in his trip to Adrianopolis in 1701 passed by Hacilar staying a whole day in the house of Senior Laspaul.

The climate was healthy, fresh and windy and the village had a beautiful view on the Gulf.

Lebrun who was also a hunter informs us that many Smyrniot Dutch hunters, such as Giacomo de Bucquoy, Benedicto Gluck, Giacomo van der Merkt and Guillaume Slaars had built in Hacilar a big house -a Hunting Lodge- with many rooms and stables in order so they could organize and enjoy hunting in this location which besides the good climate had a lot of hunting possibilities in the surrounding mountains such as partridges, wild boars etc. This house later became the property of the Cramer family and around 1870 of the Fisher family until 1922.

In the book by İlhan Pınar: ‘Hacılar, Seyahlar, Misyonerler ve Izmir: Yabancılarin gözüyle Osmanlı Döneminde Izmir 1608-1918’ [Pilgrims, Travellers, Missionaries and Izmir: Izmir through the eyes of foreigners in the Ottoman era, 1608-1918] it is a mentioned that Ida Pfeiffer a traveller and daughter of a wealthy Austrian trader in her sojourn in izmir in May 1842 visited in the Hacilar Village the house of a Levantine-Austrian von Kramer (Cramer) who was also the Consul of Austria. The stone house was built in the middle of a garden. Spacious rooms were marbled. In the garden there was a very high date palm as well as beautiful linden and walnut trees which took her attention. She mentioned that the summer houses owned by the Smyrniots were quite alike, and they were built in the middle of their gardens with walls separating them from the street.

Due to its nice climate Hacilar became a residence of many wealthy traders of Smyrna such as Gondrand, Joly, Buckmann, Aubin, Mike Courmuzi, Demetrio Baltazzi, Char Spartali, Athanasiou Loumbardou, Lorenzo Petrocochino and his son Eustratiou, of Hadji Prodromou, Vassaridou. Joly had an estate which he donated to the Church of the village.

In the cemetery were buried the wife of Mike Courmuzi, Michael Patrikios. Michael Iliadis who had a big house with a garden which passed to the ownership of Dimitri Fillipovitch.

Demetrio Baltazzi(1715-1791) and his wife Christina Chrissoyani died in Hacilari and are buried in the courtyard of the Church to which they donated their house. In the same family tomb were buried Evangelino Baltazzi (1748-1809) and his wife Vgerou born Mavrogordato who lived in Bornova.

In this period in Hacilar there was an aristocratic social circle centred on Madame Aubin. At the end of the village there was a Square called Seyir Alanı across which also passed the road of the 7 km race competition of the Panionios Games of Bornova.

However with the expansion of the trade in the centre of Izmir and as the road of 12 km to the city was quite bad and besides that there was a lack of water, many families abandoned Hacilar. Mary Whittall in one of her excursions in August 1831 wrote in her diary. “We passed from a ruined village which had a very good position in the valley but abandoned due to lack of water”.

In 1850 Latris mentioned that there were 95 families of which 80 were Greek and 15 ottoman but we have to notice what Kararas states that there was a great lack of official statistics. But we can consider that the population was at a level of 500 just before 1922, including Greek, Turks and some Jews all speaking Greek.

The village’s Church was previously a small edifice which was rebuilt in 1843 with the supervision of the Smyrniot architect Efstratiou Emmanuel. It was a proud Byzantine structure situated at the entrance to the village with a marbled narthex and stoas. Half of the construction expenses were under-written by Charalambos Spartalidis who had a summer house in Hacilar.

In the north of the village at Ai Yani at some heights there was a pilgrimage location with the icon of Agios Yani Prodromos.

In Hacilar there were two schools, one for boys and the other for girls. All expenses for education etc. were afforded by the community which was profiting from the donations including houses, olive trees bestowed to the Church which was on the head of this administration.

I may also mention that the successive expansion of Bornova and Boudja is also due to their relatively good links with Smyrna by sea and by railways for Bornova and railways to Boudja and quite better state of roads for both.

The main production of the village was the oil.
There were also three taverns with the numerous wines of the farms of the village.
Some of the villagers owned camels which carried the above mentioned products and the raisins.

In Hacilar there were two markets - (tsarsia- çarsı) a Greek and a smaller one the Turkish one where was the Mosque, one coffee house, the Han where was collected the 10 per cent value of the agricultural production and a governmental office the Idare. In the same location was a bakery, a grocery shop and one coffee shop all owned by Greeks. The second market was in the Square of the Havra (Synagogue?) where there were four grocery shops, four coffee houses, two bakeries, one butchery and one barber shop all owned by Greeks.

The Greek villagers were wearing salvari¹ The longest ones were worn by those having a prominent place in the community.

The last families living in the village were Andonopulo, Stasinopoulo, Karouzaki, Tatari, Stavridaki, MIhailidi, Kebesidon, Lazon, Kefala, Zerva, Karipi etc.

The Hacilar population both Christians and Turks were good workers and generally lived peacefully together. The cleanliness of the village and the respect of the young people towards their elders was remarkable. There was a coffee place frequented by the elders called ‘kafenion ton gerondon’ (cafe of the Elders) where they would smoke their narghile and discuss the village’s affairs.

The Saint Lazare day was a great feast for the village and of course as in the other villages where Christian lived Easter and New Year.

This village was in former times one of the villages where wealthy Smyrniots had their summer houses with extended gardens where they sojourned in the summer as well as when some epidemics such as cholera or calamities such as fires and earthquakes occurred. But with the passing of time this village lost its importance.

Narlikoy is three kilometres distant to Bornova. Kararas mentions without a doubt that this village existed during the Byzantine period and even in older times. We can ascertain, continues Kararas, that Narlikoy was the village of ‘Roujis’ which belonged to the Moni (Monastery) of Lemvon.

The traveller Edmund Chishull mentioned in 1747 that he was hosted in the village in the house of Begnamin Tzouns. Charles Mac Farlain coming from Constantinople in 1828 admired the pomegranates (Nar in Turkish) whose trees were all around the village and watched a camel fight.

Latri mentions that in 1850 there were 15 Greek, 35 Turkish families and few Catholics and Armenians.

There were some Greek Catholic residents and the Latin Archibishop of Smyrna approved the building of a small Catholic church with the name of St. Trinity. The priest of Bornova would come on Sundays to celebrate the Mass.

Later on the Greek Orthodox community build the Church of Timiou Stavro (Holy Cross) and in 1911 they built a mixed school in the courtyard of this church.

In 1890 an Izmir guide mentions a population of about 450 persons of which 300 were Greek. It looks like that the village could not feed a great number of people and the last years before 1922 there remained only 48 families of which 20 were Greek Orthodox as well as the same number Turkish and 8 families of Catholics from Tinos with Greek nationality. The first Catholic from Tinos who came to reside was Petro Remondo, a farmer and his descents constituted the small Catholic community of Narlikoy which through being of Greek nationality had to leave with the later exchange of populations.

The most important Greek families were those of Giorgi Hadjimarhou, Kosta Souvatzoglu, Apostoli Nanou, Stamati Kontoudi, Giorgou Soirtzi etc.

Although in the recent times the village was quite poor, in former times very wealthy traders of Smyrna had summer houses with big gardens. These abandoned houses in ruins belonged to Vassel, of Micrintitzi, and of Pandeli Sevastopoulo who had the biggest house with a garden full of trees surrounded by high walls in the public road towards Pınarbaşı. Sevastopulos was the greatest benefactor of the Greek community and founder of the Evangeliki School to which he donated houses, gardens and hans.

This property was later sold on to A. Merzan [Mirzan ?] and the farm’s last owner was a Mich. Tsigdemoglou. The house was later sold on to Polineris and then passed to Evangelo Carousso. However the house remained closed with just a gardener and there were stories of ghost appearances.

Narlikoy had a great market and all the villages of Bornova were being supplied by food, clothes, various material etc. There was a great Fair - Panayiri on the 14th September where all the Bornova youth came to enjoy themselves. In the alanaki - open air area - they offered the famous Loukoumades² of Bornova. On the 14th of September the first crop of the Nar - the pomegranates from which the village (the village of Nar) - Narlıköy got its name, made their appearance.

Narlıköy had enough water from wells. The Turks gave a big importance to water and had many wells and fountains which were beautifully decorated. There were organizing festivities where they ate the keskek a famous Anatolian dish made of pounded meat and wheat. Many times the Turks and Greeks celebrated their feasts together.

The place name could be translated as the village of springs (pınar in tr. bounari in gr.) which was about 8 km south-east of Bornova and 11 km east of Izmir.

Its roads and edifices were far from attracting much interest but its location and natural beauty were remarkable making it one of the most beloved villages of Bornova. There were little clean rivers called in Greek ‘rikia’ where ducks swam, surrounded by giant palm trees and gardens full of a variety of plants and trees where one could expect to meet a nymph.

According to Fontrier this location was mentioned Pigiai in a document of the Moni of Lemvon and there is also the opinion that this was the Byzantine Periklista visited by Ioannis Vatatzis when he was ill. At the west of Pınarbaşı at Isıklar (probably the ancient Lambroa) were found some Roman vestiges.

At the west end of the village was a Square called Bounaria were they were two coffee shops owned respectively by Sofokli Beinoglu and Christofi Callerghi.

Further from the mills and past a small river surrounded by a wall was the little Church of Ai-Tharapi, a pilmigrage site not only of the Bounarbasi’s Christians but of the villages of the vicinity and Izmir. The Church was built in 1900. Down of Ai Tharapi towards Siklari were the Mezaria (Moslem Tombs). The big Church within the village was the Church of Agi Kostantinou and Elenis build in 1832 where from 1863 there was a mixed school in its courtyard. In this location there was previously a smaller church.

At the end of the road coming from Bornova and at the right of the entry to the village there was the Kavatziki, a spring with a lot of water and surrounded by gardens and trees where many women of the village would wash their laundry.

In the centre of the village was the shopping area the Çarsı- the Agora, with the two sections, Greek and Turkish and between them there was a Mosque. The Greeks and Turks lived in separate quarters.

The population of 1859 according Latri was of 215 families of which 115 were Greek, 150 Turks and 20 Jewish. Before 1922 there were about 3000 residents of whom 1200 were Greek, 1700 Turks and 100 Jews who also had a Synagogue.

The villagers were hard workers and the women had an air of Anatolian beauties. Famous for her beauty was Merighi, daughter of Anastasi Deri. Others beauties were Ourania Mavrogeni, Fotini Veinoglu and many others.

Bournabasi was a wealthy village besides its gardens it had many farms and a great production of fruits as the black raisins, whose product of wine could be tasted in the numerous taverns of the village.

There was also another product which was useful to the village economy. In the north and up to Nifio (Kemalpaşa) and beyond grew hyacinths the wild zumboulia - the sümbüls in tr. The Whittals organised the collection of the bulbs of these flowers and would export them to Europe. For the production and trade of the zumbulia the Whittalls owned a big area little down from the mountain. Many young men of the village worked in April to May to collect the zumbouli and were selling the bulbs to the Whittalls.

As in Bornova here and only in these two villages the villager women would sew the famous embroidery (dantel) called Kopanakia which were also sold in Izmir.

In the last years we see the families of Athanassi Paleologho, Christophi Callerghi, the Beinoglu families, Petra, Mavroyeni. Nikos Kararas mentions that his grand-father Christos Kararas lived for a certain time in Pınarbaşı before moving to reside in Bornova.

The biggest panayiri was the Ai-Tharapi one and this of the Rodion - the pomegranate of 14th September where the priest would go to the gardens to give a benediction to a special tree of pomegranate. Many people would come from the environs and Izmir on these occasions but other times too to profit from the freshness and the exquisite hospitality of this village. I remember that even in my youth in the 50’s many excursions were organised from Izmir to Pınarbaşı.

The Turkish and Greek men were quite healthy and rude and would often fight - kavgades. The zaptiades (a kind of police) some time were obliged to ask help from Izmir to restore order.

Smyrni has a village.
Build over a mountain.
Its beauty is indescribable.
And crystalline are its waters.
Who would go there.
Would forget any pain.
Once there he will chant.
Beautiful Koukloutza.
For you I renounce.
To Smyrna’s wealth.
And I will from now on.
Live in the height of your mountains.

This was from a song which I think gives you a fair description of how impressive this village was and points to the significance on the resolution of Alexandre Blacque, a famous journalist-editor of the Courrier of Smyrne newspaper who went to live there amongst the villagers of Kokluca.

But let’s give some usual information about this village which was built over a height of 131 meters on the last western extensions of the Tmolou the Mikrasiatiko (Little Asian) Olympos mountain. It is situated to the east of Izmir and south east of Bornova from which it is about one hour walk away. Its name originates from ‘Koukoulos’ the village of Koukoulis which is mentioned on the description of the borders of the Moni-Monastery of Lemvon. Some also speculate that it could be from the Turkish kokulu-çalı - an odourful plant. But Kararas insists that the correct origin should be the first one of Koukoulos.

From the heights of Kokluca you could admire the whole of Kambos, the Sypilos with the aristocratic Bornova at its feet. To its left Smyrni with its port and the mountain of the Two Brothers. Kokluca had a very healthy climate and many wealthy Smyrniots had their summer houses there. Michaux the French traveller who went with Blacque to Kokluca states that the houses were well build, distant from each other’s and surrounded with olive trees. The inhabitants were Greek with a great sense of hospitality. Before Blacque no foreigner resided in the village but Alexandre Blacque knew how to gain their esteem and friendship.

Kokluca had the honour to install the first printing machine of the whole Ionia. In 1813 the philanthropic trader Matzouranis brought from Europe a machine and there begun some printing of single sheet pages mainly for publicity purposes.

Around 1868 there were only 100 families but towards 1922 they reached the number of 5000 residents. There were two quarters, the Upper Quarter - Apano Mahalla and the Lower Quarter - The Kato Mahalla. In the beginning there was a lack of water but later on many fountains were built.

The villagers were mainly farmers and there was an important crop of raisins and figs as well as a production of wine, raki and oil.

There were very good schools for boys and girls. In Kokluca there was an old Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul (Apostolon Petrou ke Pavlou) which was built in 1865 and had a beautiful bell-tower with three big bells.

There were also three paraklissia (small churches), the Ai Yani close to the lower fountains, the Ai Giorgi at the dere (small river), and Aia Anastasia in the north of the village at Katou Elia where festivities were taking place on her name day. But the biggest Panagiri- festivity was on the 29th of June of the Apostles of Peter and Paul. Violins, santouria³ and kopses⁴ would go into the houses with the singers bringing joy and pleasure. There were many visitors from the vicinity and Izmir. The bakery of Yanis Tzanavaris was famous for its katimeria⁵ and loukoumades.

Bournova with your fresh waters,
Boudja with your greenery,
And you brave Koukloutza,
With your beautiful kerades (ladies).

Today at Kokluca, equating to today’s Altındağ of Izmir exists a small Greek Orthodox cemetery opposite the big Muslim one.

Notes:
1 Salvari (from Lexicon of Smyrneika): From tr. pantaloons worn by country folk.

2 Loukoumades (from Lexicon of Smyrneika): Doughnuts dripped in honey or grape syrup.

3 Santouria (from Lexicon of Smyrneika): A stringed musical instrument.

4 Kopses (from Lexicon of Smyrneika): A kind of lute.

5 Katimeria(from Lexicon of Smyrneika): Puff buns stuffed with goat’s cheese and covered with icing sugar.