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Turkey’s ‘ghost village’ to be restored after Erdoğan’s call
Turkey’s ‘ghost village’ to be restored after Erdoğan’s call
An abandoned village in western Turkey whose roots go back to the Neolithic era will soon be restored, a minister has announced. Click through for the story in photos...
“The president [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] personally called me and instructed for quick work to restore this enchanting village,” Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told Demirören News Agency on July 23 during his visit to the Lübbey village in İzmir province.
“A protection plan will be prepared for the restoration of Lübbey and then the site will be a model for the whole region,” the minister said.
Sitting on a valley of pine forests at the foot of Mount Bozdağ, Lübbey has been continuously inhabited from the Neolithic period to modern times. During the Ottoman period, it was sometimes known as a shelter for bandits and pirates.
Three decades ago, however, its residents started to leave the village as it lacked electricity and suitable fields for agriculture.
Only five people are currently living in the village, which has been a source of urban legends since the early 1980s that claimed Lübbey was haunted by a “calamity.”
The new restoration project, which also aims to draw people back to the “ghost” village, will focus on the 44 buildings that still stand. Most of them were built with a unique architecture of stone and woods.
“These buildings will be restored based on its original plans as stipulated by the Board of Landmarks,” Ersoy said.
“This will only be the beginning, though. The work we are starting here will be arduous and expensive,” he added.
Here are more photos from Lübbey village. (Demirören News Agency)
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