Ayvalık Abandonment, Turkiye

Ayvalık (Turkish: [ˈajvaɫɯk]; Greek: Αϊβαλί, Κυδωνίες) is a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean coast of Turkey. Until 1922, Ayvalık was almost entirely populated by Greeks. The town was controlled by the Greek Army on 29 May 1919 and consequently taken again three years later by Turkish forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 15 September 1922. A part of the population managed to depart to Greece. Following the Turkish War of Independence, the Greek population and their properties in the town were exchanged by a Muslim population from Greece, and other formerly held Ottoman Turkish lands, under the 1923 agreement for the Exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. Most of the new population that replaced the former Greek community were Muslim Turks from Mytilene, Crete and Macedonia. Many Greek houses, such as this one, have been abandoned and left in disrepair ever since.
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