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The Castle Neighbourhood was not a hidden location
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but the people living here were
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only aware of small holes under their houses,
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which they used as depots.
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Nobody was aware about its scale.
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With the protocol signed with
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the Housing Authority
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we started the works here.
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They were planning to build houses here.
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When the existing buildings were demolished,
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the underground city was exposed.
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This current zone we are now inside
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is a 120 thousand sqm section
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displaying the
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Largest Underground City of the World.
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The origin of Nevsehir Hill Settlement
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dates back to 6th Century A.D.
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We can understand this from
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the data found during the studies.
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A religious cross stone relief,
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it might be a part of monastery complex.
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I suppose the settlement here was
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continuous since then.
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This historic center starts growing
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and is used continously until
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the Turkish Republican period.
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This area is called the horse barn,
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one of our largest rooms,
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having a depth of 36 meters.
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These 23 alcoves in the right side
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were used to tie in horses and camels
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We can see the connection holes here.
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While this tunnel was being excavated
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these holes were used to place candle lights
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and we can see the carving.
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This was used for water distribution;
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but maybe the initial use was
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for hiding.
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This tunnel continues
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for approximately 350 meters.
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Here an animal or a humanbeing
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is rotating the spindle by pushing,
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causing the wood beams to press downwards
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and the goods inside the baskets are pressed
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to get out oil,
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which are placed to the other side
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for them to be left for resettlement.
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We plan to open a section
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so that people can start visiting
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while we continue working on the other sides
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step by step, year by year.
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And within time, we would like to
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open all the area for tourism
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as a place well worth visiting.
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When this project would be fully completed,
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we target to increase the number of tourists
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visiting our Cappadocia Region
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from 3 million visitors to 15 million.