Residents against the demolition of ‘kastroplikta’

‘Καστρόπληκτα’ (pronounced ‘kastroplikta’, which means ‘castle-stricken’, ‘the houses threatened by the walls’) are a characteristic example of the self-built housing constructed by the refugees who arrived in Thessaloniki from Asia Minor in 1922. Their demolition had been proposed as early as the 1930s to make way for a green zone along the walls, but up until the 1990s, all efforts to rehouse the residents of the dwellings had failed. When Thessaloniki was designated Cultural Capital of Europe for the year 1997, significant funds were allocated towards the removal of ‘kastroplikta’. However, their residents organised in neighbourhood protection committees and, as their rulings were backed by many architecture and urban planning university departments as well as a variety of other institutions, they managed to significantly delay the demolition process until after 2010.

The video shows an interview with residents who are refusing to leave their homes and are against the demolition of ‘kastroplikta’.

First woman: ‘When I learned that they would take us away from here, I got sick. Literally, even now that I’m talking to you, I’m still sick. What can I tell you… I’m upset. I don’t want to leave this place, because I was born in this neighbourhood. This is where I was born, where I grew up, I’m fifty years old now and I don’t want to leave, because the place has a lot going for it; the air is clean and it’s quiet’.

Second woman: ‘There are a lot of advantages here, the climate is nice, the air is good, but our houses are in an awful state, our roof is ready to cave in, there are leaks everywhere, we gather the water in pots and pans. They won’t let us do anything about it’.

Question: ‘What’s going to happen?’

Second woman: ‘Who knows? They have called a meeting and we will collect signatures. Some people want houses, others want loans, we don’t all agree on what should happen’.

Question: ‘When were these houses built?’

Second woman: ‘When were they built, Paraskevoula?’

Man: ‘During the Balkan wars’.

Second woman: ‘They’ve been here since the Balkan wars, since the city was under Turkish rule’.

Third woman: ‘These houses were Turkish, we didn’t build them, they’re not illegal. They were Turkish, the Turks left and our parents just got in and lived in them’.

Question: ‘Tell us about the walls’.

Third woman: ‘What about the walls? What am I supposed to say? They are nice. Let the tourists come and see how nice they are. What am I supposed to say about the walls?’

Question: ‘Do they bother you?’
Third lady: ‘Of course not. Why would they bother us? The walls are nice. If they want to demolish them, that’s fine, but they won’t do it. The walls are nice as they are, we don’t mind the walls. Let people come see them. Instead, they want to get us out of here, but where will they take us? We are not leaving this place. They want to show off the walls, the castles, they say they are beautiful. Where is the beauty? It’s a plain wall. What’s special about it? What’s beautiful about it? Let the people come see them for themselves’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOKH95Rbb-8&ab_channel=BILLSERAF