Kilimtepe Parkı

About Kilimtepe Parkı

Kilimtepe Parkı is a neighbourhood park in Çalıkuşu Mahallesi, Bozyaka, in Karabağlar, laid out around a historic stone house linked to the novelist Reşat Nuri Güntekin, one of the best known writers of the early Republican period. The masonry house was built in 1873 by the Kilimcizade family, and Güntekin lived and wrote here for a time. Visit İzmir notes that it is where he wrote his famous novel Çalıkuşu in 1922, which is also the name of the surrounding neighbourhood. After the house was restored in 2007, the land around it was turned into a park through a recreation project and named Kilimtepe Parkı in memory of Rıfat Kilimtepe. Since 2007 the house has served as the Reşat Nuri Güntekin Children's Library, run today by Karabağlar Municipality, with a collection of Turkish and world literature for young readers. The park is a pleasant green stop for families in Bozyaka and a small literary landmark of the district.