1. Human Geography

A country town built on a slope south of Panormos. It was built in a valley surrounded by hills. The residences of the settlements were built on these hills, giving the town an amphitheatrical aspect. The settlement lay 51 km NE of Adramyttion and 28 km NW of Balikesir. The official name of the settlement in the Ottoman documents was Balya Karaydin (Karaydin was a country town NW of Balia in the same district). It was also referred to as Balye Maden (maden = mine). In the official ecclesiastical documents it bore the name ‘Bolia’. Rarely was it mentioned as ‘Pericharaxis’.
Balia was inhabited by approximately 6,000 Greek Orthodox and 2,000 Muslims.¹ There was also a number of Kurds and Lazians, who worked in the town’s mines, and a few Armenians (until the persecution of 1915). Most of the Greek Orthodox originated from the Pontus. They migrated to Balia early in the 19th century (especially after 1840, when the mines begun operating) as expert miners, for many had specialized in this profession when they were working in the mines of Pontus. Some Greek Orthodox migrants inhabiting Balia had also relocated from Mytilene, Pergamos and Ayvali. Other immigrants had come to Balia from Epirus, Macedonia and Mainland Greece. The language of the Greek Orthodox was Greek and bore similarities to the vernacular of the Aydin region. Almost all of them, however, could also speak Turkish as well.

2. Administrative and ecclesiastical subsumption

According to the evidence available for the 20th century, Balia was the capital of a kaymakamlık, which belonged to the mutasarrıflık of Balikesir in the vilayet of Bursa.² The Greek Orthodox element of the town was represented in the council of the kaymakam (the governor of the town) by two councillors-representatives. Balia was also the seat of a mayor. The municipal council did not contain any representatives from the Greek Orthodox population. The mayor was usually a Muslim. There is, however, a single case when the office was held by a Greek Orthodox before 1908: this was Panages Psaradelles from Molybos of Mytilene.
There was also a Greek Orthodox councilman in the courts, as well as a muhtar responsible for the Greek Orthodox population. The Greek Orthodox community featured a dimogerontia , which controlled the activities of the board of schools and the ecclesiastical board. Ecclesiastically, Balia belonged to the Metropolis of Cyzicus which was based in Artaki. Apparently after 1907 Balia became the seat of the bishop of Melitopolis, who was titulary surrogate bishop to the metropolitan of Cyzicus. In 1907 Germanos, the until then protosyncellos of the Cyzicus metropolitan, became bishop of Melitopolis.

3. Religion - education

The great church of Balia was dedicated to the Annunciation of the Mother of God. It was built in around 1897 and featured a large courtyard. The church was staffed by three priests and managed to carry out significant charitable work. With its income it supported schools and provided care for the poor. When a person visited the Holy Lands and became chatzes, he was expected to offer the church a donation.
The latest school of the settlement was built in 1909. It was an eight-grade Greek school and it included an all-male and an all-female section, each functioning independently. It was housed in a two-storey building featuring six classrooms for each section. It was staffed by four male and four female teachers, who usually came from Smyrna or Constantinople. The Greek Orthodox community expended the sum of 130,000 Turkish lire for the construction of the church and the school. The school was located next to the church courtyard but at a higher level. The building of the diocese was located next to the church on a lower level. That was the residence of the bishop of Melitopolis.
The Ottoman administration did not allow the construction of further churches. There was, however, another smaller church on the eastern edge of the town: this was a private chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist. It belonged to one Epirote named Arnaoutoglou, who had also constructed his resting place inside the chapel. He had undertaken the expenses for its maintenance, but services could be held there at the request of a citizen. Behind the chapel there was a roofed holy water basin.

4. The mines

The mines of Balia had been known since ancient times and their exploitation begun after 133 BC, under the kings of Pergamon. The operation of the mines recommenced in 1840, and mining was intensified after 1880, when the company that also exploited the Lavrion mines took over the business. In 1892, Greek financiers formed the ‘Incorporated Ottoman Company’ of the Balya Karaydin mines in order to exploit the argentous lead and argol of Kotza Gumus, the mine or argentous lead and argol of the Karaydin village and of a brown coal mine located in the position Manzilia. The ancient name of the Karaydin settlement was ‘Argyreia’ (argyros = silver), an indication that a mine existed there in Antiquity. Next to Muslim Karaydin a Christian village was built under the same name, where a Greek Orthodox population from Mytilene settled. In 1893 a French company based in Constantinople acquired the exploitation rights of the mines. The company was forced to discontinue its operation in 1922 due to the events of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. In the early 20th century approximately 200 persons worked in the mines, people who had relocated from Lavrion. They worked as supervisors, trenchmen a.o.
Around Balia, as well as in the river Koca dere and in various canyons, the mining company built several bridges, so as to facilitate the transportation of ore in trolleys. The company trolleys, setting off from Balia, made a stop at the position ‘Kantari’, which lay over the Ottoman village of Osmanlan, and arrived at the village of Belanidia. There, they unloaded the ore; and then it was loaded into carts drawn by oxen and carried to Aktsag (20km away, a harbour of Adramyttion) and loaded onto ships. Aktsag featured several stores, owned by Greek Orthodox residents, and contained the offices of the mining company.
This company had dug pits in various sites outside Balia to extract ore. The most important pit was situated at the site Kocamagara (= great cave), and its depth measured 300m. The mining factories, the company’s offices, the hospital, the washer, the furnaces, the electrical plant, the machine shops and the workers clubs were found at this site. There were also 300 small houses of the Kurdish and Lazian miners, who had been settled there by the company. The miners had built them themselves, using material provided by the company. Thus, a whole new settlement developed around the mines. Another pit was dug by the company in the site 'Baggelistra’, called thus because of its proximity to the church of the town dedicated to the Annunciation of the Mother of God. Its depth was 300m and it featured an elevator used by the miners to enter and exit the mine. Pits had also been dug in the sites ‘Haghia Barbara’ (depth 250m), ‘Haghios Ioannes’ (depth 150m, named after a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist), ‘Ari Magara’ (= cave of the bee) with two pits 180m deep. Another pit lay east of Balia, at the site called ‘Tereza’. It was probably named after some relative of the French manager of the mines. The mines employed approximately 15,000 persons, people originating from the nearby villages as well as Pontiacs and Kurds who had settled the region. According to the available information, the company generally offered generous wages and medical care to its employees.

5. Residential structure data

Balia was a site with abundant water and lush vegetation. Atmospheric pollution because of the smog from the mines destroyed many trees and generally affected negatively the region, mainly its vineyards. The mining company was forced to construct higher chimneys and compensate the inhabitants whose vineyards were destroyed.
The Greek Orthodox population lived in three quarters, the Epano, Mesaios and Kato Machalas (=Upper, Middle and Lower Quarter). Left of the Epano Machalas was the Muslim quarter of the settlement. The Armenian quarter was also situated there, more specifically at the Gayak height. In the settlement’s Greek Orthodox quarters there was a place called ‘tou Panaghou oi kamares’ (=the chambers of Panaghos). Apparently, one Panaghos had built many rooms there which he leased to the outlanders that came in to work in the mines. These rooms were located close to the mines. Rooms to let were also found in other places of the settlements, for example the ‘tou Karakase oi kamares’, ‘tou Demetre Mamiame oi kamares’ etc. These structures had a uniform look and gave the impression of a separate district to that where persons working in the mines lived.
The entire city was crossed by a central street. It begun from the Mesos machalas and led to the guardhouse. A square existed there, where a bazaar was held. The settlement’s events were housed in various clubs. The settlement’s residences were spaciously positioned, usually separated by large gardens. All were stone-built, two-storey structures. The marketplace also featured several inns and hotels. The governor’s office and the telegraph office were among the largest buildings.

6. Financial data

The large river that flowed outside Balia, Koca dere, poured into the Panormos Lake. It was rich in fish which the locals usually fished using dynamite. Every Thursday a large bazaar was held in Balia. The inhabitants of the nearby villages carried and sold their produce there. The large merchants purchased their merchandise from Constantinople and Smyrna. The town’s population was agrarian and urban, while the farmers were mainly Muslim. They worked on the lands of the Greek Orthodox and in return they kept the produce, paying the owner a rent. They were also employed as miners. Most of the Greek Orthodox were artisans and practitioners. In the town’s market, most shops belonged to the Greek Orthodox. Only in the years preceding the Asia Minor Catastrophe did the Ottomans start entering the commercial business. Stock-raising was also developed. The mainstay of the regional economy was, however, the mining business.

7. The last period of Greek Orthodox presence in Balia

During the draft that the Ottomans had imposed in 1914 the inhabitants of Bali sought to register in Belementig (80km N-NW of Adana), in the service of the German company that had undertaken to open a tunnel there for the great railway line that connected Baghdad with the Ottoman Empire. Nikolaos Mavrokordatos was a chief engineer in this company (he was known as Nikolaos Mavros). He looked after the Greek Orthodox conscripts who reached there, giving them well-paid posts. Mavrokordatos was later arrested by the Kemalists. At any rate, many of the Greek Orthodox inhabitants of Balia were drafted into the infamous labour battalions (amele taburu), where they were decimated.