INTERVIEW WITH MRS. FARKOH

I was born in 1909 in Buca. The house that is now the Municipality of Buca was our home. My childhood was spent in that house. We used to live in the beautiful air of Buca in the winter and go to the Urla Pier in the summer. Very kind people lived in the beautiful Buca. Old families such as Rees, Forbes, Dyong, Barker, Gordon, Whittal had magnificent mansions. You should have seen the life in those mansions. Alber Whittal was one of the greatest merchants of the Aegean. It used to sit on Forbes. Short-legged gentlemen played golf on the field next to the Forbes mansion.

After living in Thessaloniki and Athens between 1922 and 1942, I returned to Buca during the German War. I've been living in Buca ever since. We also lived in Gabriel's house, which is now Yapı Kredi Bank Lodging, next to the ballpark. I worked at Monsieur Giraud's factory for years.

Buca quickly changed. It was very foreign, it got very crowded. Old people died, beautiful mansions were destroyed. What good friendships Turks and Christians had in the past. I miss that old life so much. Now I'm all alone with no one left from my family. That's why I get depressed sometimes.

Stephanie Farkoh, 1986

Note 1: This interview was conducted by Yaşar Aksoy, six months before Ms. Farkoh's death in 1986.

Note 2: Stephanie Farkoh is the granddaughter of Hacı Davut Farkoh, who built the old town hall, and the seventh of thirteen children, Kosta's daughter by Eli.

Source: Smyrna İzmir: Efsaneden Gerçeğe, Yaşar Aksoy, 2002