Sirince (Cirkince)
Village
The village of Sirince
is referred in ancient
sources as the Ephesus
on the Mountain suggests
long established
settlement. Although
there seems to be no
concrete indication of
how it came onto the
stage of
history,
the dominant theory is
that a small group of
people resettled on the
mountain, following the
fall of the city of
Ephesus and its harbour
being moved to Kusadas (Scala
Nova). The people might
have preferred to move
and settle in the
mountains due to
problems caused by the
silting and the flooding
of the river Meander.
It is told in the
village today that this
new village on the
mountain was called
Cirkince, meaning rather
ugly, with the intention
of drawing less
attention and interest
of outsiders, thus
ensuring security. One
of the principal
anecdote abput naming of
the village tells that a
group of Byzantine
Greeks who were freed
from the dominion of
Aydnogullar and sent
away for re-settlement,
were asked by the
neighbouring villagers
whether the new place
they had settled was
nice or not. The answer
was rather ugly.
The oldest building in
Sirince is from the
Hellenistic period,
initially built as a
tower initially, and
most probably left from
the Lysimakhos era
corresponding to the
time when the city of
Ephesus was established.
It was part of an early
warning system built in
the Klasseas Valley
which was of strategic
military importance. The
building has had some
alterations during the
Byzantine period and is
locally thought to have
been a monastery.
A ceramic seal with the
name of Georgeos used to
brand bread in a bakery
was found in a peach
garden indicating the
existence of a community
life in the region in
the Byzantine period.
The oldest travel notes
about Kirkinca are in
the book of memories
called A Visit to Turkey
and Return to Britain,
written by a scholar
priest Edmund D.
Chishull , who lived in
Izmir during 1698-1702.
Leaving Tire, Chishull
reached the ancient city
of Ephesus on April
30,1699. As the book
reveals, the place to
stay for the night
around Ephesus is the
village of Kirkidje.
Chishull and his guide
arrived in the village
at around eight oclock
in the evening tracing
along the Klassen Valley
in the east of Ayasuluk
hill.
Kirkinca was a village
of 1800 households of
Byzantine Greeks during
the Ottoman reign in the
19th century. World War
I started in 1914 with
all its violence in
Anatolia. The Ottoman
government registers the
young Byzantine Greeks
of the Kirkica Village
to join the Worksmen
Battalion. However,
those running away from
the battalion either go
to he mountains to live
as a gang of brigands or
took refuge in Greece to
boycott. Those who could
survive the war return
to their village when
the war ends. Dido
Sotiriyu reflects about
those years in her novel
called Farewell Anatola
writing: The Germans had
left behind their
munitions stores in the
ancient Ephesus. The
Turkish gendarme
appointed by the Mondros
Armistice to hand them
over to the allies had
run away. Following the
night fall, the
villagers of Kirkinca
carried all the weapons
and explosive materials
to the village pacing
the roads of Ephesus. It
was then that they felt
independent. Hunchbacks
immediately became
straight. On May 15,
1919 the Greek army
occupying zmir was
welcomed with excitement
in the village of
Kirkica. Identifying
themselves as Greek, the
young people of Kirkica,
Urla, Bornova and
Kusadasi volunteered to
join the independent
regiments headed by
Greek officers. The Sevr
Agreement signed on 10
August 1920 encouraged
these young people with
the hope to share the
eastern Anatolia with
the allies.However, the
success of the Great
Assault ending the
Turkish Independence
War, and the rescuing of
zmir from the Greek
occupation on 9
September 1922, caused
the Byzantine Greek
villagers of the region
to migrate to Greece.
Kirkica then turned into
a deserted village like
the others, with a few
elderly inhabitants left
behind.
In 1924, a Population
Exchange Agreement was
signed between Turkish
and Greek governments.
Thus,the post-war
Kirkica was revitalized
with Turkish newcomers
from Salonika, Kavala
and Provusta. The words
of Kazim Dirik Pasha,
the governor of zmir at
the time, about the name
of the village are still
quoted in the region.
During the first years
of the Turkish Republic,
he visited the village
and suggested changing
its name from Cirkince
-meaning rather ugly- to
Sirince meaning
charming, saying such a
nice place should not be
called ugly, but could
only be called pretty.
Natural Environment
Sirince stands at the
end of the valley which
goes along the Cirkince
mountain-pass from
Selcuk to the east. The
river flowing in the
valley was called
Klasseas in antiquity.
The mountains in the
north are called Elemen.
Selahattin Mountain is
the current name given
to the hills stretching
to the east. Beylik
Hill, 508 meters in
height, is to the west
of Sirince, overlooking
the sea and the Selcuk
plain. The hills around
Sirince are covered with
pine trees and on the
rocky cliffs with scrub.
Marshmallows with violet
flowers are the most
striking plants on the
climb to irince. The
town is surrounded by
olive groves, tangerine
and fig gardens, and
vineyards.
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