Principles and strategies for the conservation of a cultural landscape: the krom valley in Gümüşhane

Date

2023-12

Author

Türkfiliz, Miraç Ayça

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On January 30, 1923, in the Lausanne Peace Treaty VI., Turkish and Greek delegates signed the convention for the Compulsory Population Exchange. As a result of the protocol, almost two million people were forced to leave their hometowns, and many settlements populated by the Greek (Rum) community in Turkey were nearly deserted. Although a much-reduced Muslim population reinhabited some of these settlements, they were never fully settled, leaving behind certain sections abandoned. The Krom Valley in Yağlıdere Village in Gümüşhane is one of the cultural landscapes in the Black Sea region that lost its population due to the population exchange. Before the population exchange, the valley was a miner’s settlement with a population of six thousand people, living in 15 neighborhoods with around 40 churches, chapels, and monasteries. After the population exchange, Muslim communities were settled in the valley; however, due to the lack of population and religious differences, many of the houses, public buildings, and mines were left empty, facing collapse. This study aims to develop conservation principles and strategies by considering the Krom Valley in Gümüşhane as a depopulated cultural landscape. The study first traced the change in the village over time through a literature review, site survey, in-depth interviews with its current inhabitants, and the use of the archive of the Kromni Pontos web blog founded by emigrated Kromniots. Then, the collected data and information were analyzed and evaluated. At the last stage, the Krom Valley's values, problems, and potentials were determined based on these evaluations. Following that, principles and strategies were proposed for conserving the Krom Valley as a depopulated cultural landscape.

Subject Keywords

Depopulation, Cultural landscapes, Krom Valley, Population exchange, Conservation

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107800

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis