ABSTRACT
I came from Bulgaria when I was four. The government had provided us
with rooms in which we could stay temporarily. We lived in those rooms
for a year, after which they built these stone houses for us. They were
very beautiful – two rows of houses laid out in the form of a crescent and
star – as in the Turkish flag. The police station was at the centre – it was a
nice building, but was later demolished . . . Atatürk came to the village to
deliver the keys of our houses to us. All the children ran out to see him! . . .
Our houses had four rooms, and a large space for animals. The govern-
