Map — Efkere

Introduction

To the best of this author’s knowledge, there are no known surviving maps of Efkere from the years prior to First World War. The maps on this page were commissioned by this website, and created using modern maps, and satellite imagery. Only one street name is listed: Demircilik. This street currently has the same name as it did over a century ago. To the author’s knowledge, all of the other current street names in the village are relatively new.

In his book Gesi Vadisi: Gesi, Efkere, Darsiyak, Nize, Balagesi, Mancusun Huseyin Cömert states that the 1831 census records list the following streets in Efkere:

Maşat Street, Hacet Street, Çarşı Street, Mahami Street, Değirmen Street, Keşiş Street, Aynalı Street, Kilise Street, Cezayirli Street, Horoz oğlu Street, Darsıyak Street, Kabriyel Street, Manastır Street, Uğurlu Street, Nalbant Street, Hamit Efendi Street, Kürkçü Street, Demircilik Street, Halim Ağa Street, Kara Şahin Street, Kalaycıoğlu Street, Hacı Efendi Street, Cadıoğlu Street, Raşit Ağa Street, Kabakoğlu Street, Haşim Ağa Street,Harman Street, and Kayseri Street.

Clearly, more work needs to be done to identify the location of these streets.

These maps will be updated in the coming months. Hopefully, more of the older street names will be placed appropriately on the maps, and the different neighborhoods will also be shown, as well as more landmarks in the village, whether they remain standing or not.

The actual borders for the village were actually quite a bit larger than is shown on the first two maps. Those maps, though, show the center of the village. The third map approximates the actual borders of historic Efkere, and the current borders of Gesi Bahçeli.

Note that the persective (North/South) differs on the second map.

The coming weeks will see the start of The Efkere Project. Photographs, both modern and historic, will be linked to a map of Efkere, so that the viewer can see what the location looks like currently and, if historic photographs are available, how the area appeared in the past.

The Efkere Project -

Over the next several months, the author of this website hopes to make the above maps interactive—that is, one will be able to use the map to examine individual structures on each street. One will be able to highlight a particular region of the map, and then see recent photographs of that portion of the street. In those cases where vintage photographs exist, they will also be included. When important information on that particular location is known (such as the age of the structure, current and/or previous purpose of the building, etc), it will also be included.

This will apply to all regions of the village.

At this point, I am still in the photo gathering phase.

Currently, I am using this web page to organize the photographs and gather more information on the structures before adding them to the maps above.

Modern street names are shown below, but I am hoping to be able to also include the older names of these streets. Demircilik Sokak, of course, has remained with its name unchanged.

If anybody has any photographs that they would like to share, either new or vintage, I can be contacted at Jonathan323@mac.com. I would also be interested in any information on any of the structures. Your contributions can be an anonymous, or I can provide a credit. And of course, I am interested in all aspects of the village and its history—both Turkish and Armenian.

I am indebted to anybody that can help with photographs, information, or suggestions. I am particularly indebted to inanç Firat Erdogan, who has provided almost all of the incredible photographs shown in the linked pages above, and has provided locations for them.

Demircilik Sokak

Demircilik Sokak (Blacksmith Street) is generally a North/South street that runs on the east side of the center of Efkere.

Its name has remained unchanged since prior to the First World War, unlike the vast majority of streets in this village.

The letters on the map to the left correspond to the photographs below. The direction of the arrows points in the direction that the photographs were taken.

Demircilik Sokak is at a significantly higher elevation than the rest of eastern Efkere, and therefore provides outstanding views of the village.

I am indebted to inanç Firat Erdogan for his assistance.