Cappadocia & Family Roots

Eruptions of volcanoes shaped the earth over millions of years, creating some unusually rugged landscapes. One of these places is Cappadocia (38 39’30N 34 51’13 E) in central Turkey. It is a vast area, covering approximately 150x150 km. The rocks reach to the sky in the most unusual shapes, forms and in a variety of colors due to the temperature of the lava when it formed. These are called ‘fairy chimneys’. For over 10000 years people lived and worshipped in this area where the stones were generally soft and easy to dig out and give shape. At many centers the habitants also dug into the ground and created enormous underground cities up to seven floors deep. There are remains of communal kitchens, communication tunnels, churches, underground schools and even shelter for camels. Feza’s paternal grandparents were both born and brought up in this area. During the last years of the Ottoman empire her grandfather had to move from Istanbul and bring his wife and 5 young children to the area until the Turkish Republic was founded. After living in Ankara for short while, the family settled back in Istanbul. Interestingly, the rest of Feza’s ancestors left the Balkans, leaving Roussou(Ruscuk) by the Danube in Bulgaria and Ionnina (Yanya) in western Greece around the same time and emigrated to Istanbul. Feza was born and trained as a doctor in Istanbul. Just as her grandparents did, she had to emigrate to London because of political reasons.