Özkonak Underground City

Template: Infobox city in Turkey / Maintenance / county without inhabitants or surface

Özkonak is a municipality in the Turkish province of Nevsehir. The village is situated in the district of Avanos around 15 km north- west of the county town. Known the place is by his cave city. The former name of Özkonak was Genezin.

History

In the Bronze Age the Hatti influence reached far. Around the 2nd millennium BC, the area around Özkonak was Hittite; In addition, the Assyrians established their trading posts here.

Attractions

On the edge of the elongated village lies a small cave city that was discovered in 1972. The underground system performs up to ten storeys deep, of which only five are open for tourism.

The underground city is equipped with a ventilation system, living rooms and store rooms and water tanks. The agreement was made using a system of small holes between the individual apartments. About the underground city are situated in a hill simple graves. In the living area there are bedrooms, dining room, wine cellar, toilets, kitchens, storage and stables. For safety, there are rolling stone doors, with which one could shut off the low passages from the inside in an emergency.

If one turns left three kilometers southeast of Özkonak on the old route, can be reached in about one kilometers into the carved out in the rock demolition monastery Belha Manastırı. The Byzantine monastery district dates from the 6th - 10th Century. A large, high and five pillars supported vestibule is transverse to the main space through which you came to a place of refuge.

" It is believed that Özkonak is the largest underground city in Cappadocia and in its heyday, about 60,000 inhabitants has had the artificial cave system was discovered by the muezzin of the village, who joined in the work on his land randomly on access to the city system.; until 1972 it was then exposed systematically. has found you in the many rooms and corridors wine cellar and vessels, a kitchen and a number of children's graves. "

Climate

Özkonak has a strict and dry continental climate. It is hot in summer and dry in winter it is cold and snowy. The warmest months in the summer are July and August. The average temperature during this period is in excess of 21 ° C. The coldest months are January and February, and in winter the average temperature is slightly below 0 ° C.

Landscape

The formation of the landscape goes back to the geological period of the Tertiary (50 million years). Huge masses of volcanic material have spewed out and deposited the various volcanoes in this region since that time. Besides grain grow here potatoes, fruit and grapes. In addition Özkonak is known for its vineyards.

Kitchen

Typical regional dishes are Mantı ( pasta parcels with yogurt ), Testi Kebap ( kebab with vegetables) and Bulamaç as a dessert.

Author

Bekir Turgut Elicin is a regional writer of humorous stories about Özkonak. He has summarized 1972 anecdotes in a book. They describe a man named Keriminoğlu, who was known for his cleverness in Özkonak.