Mustafa Pasha -Old Greek Village of Sinasos

Mustafapasa (Sinassos) is a small town in Cappadocia, located a few kilometers from the village of Ürgüp. The town attracts tourists with its architecture and history. Until the 1920s, the majority of the population of Mustafapasa were Greeks. The former name of this town "Sinassos" means "city of fishermen" in English.

In Istanbul, there was even a guild of merchants from Sinasoss, which held a monopoly on the fish market. The professing of different religions did not prevent Turks and Greeks from living in friendship, helping each other to develop and enrich each other.

Unfortunately, peaceful life was interrupted in the early 1920s. Thick clouds over the city. After Greece's defeat in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22), a population exchange treaty was concluded between Turkey and Greece in 1923. The Turks left Greece for Turkey, and the Greeks went in the opposite direction. Some of the Turks deported from Greece and Macedonia were sent to Sinassos, which was renamed Mustafapasha in honor of Atatürk. Those who, according to the agreement, settled in the village, brought their traditions.

This is evident in the way of life and the food that is prepared in the town today. Here you can even hear Macedonian speech in the circle of some families.

The inhabitants of Sinassos have built many rich, stone-carved buildings: churches, mansions, schools, baths, libraries. Some of them have been carefully restored (for example, this hotel) more recently, while others have been reduced to rubble. To this day, not only Greek churches and mansions have been preserved in the town, but also buildings of Ottoman architecture can be seen next to them.

In the center of the city there is a church erected in honor of the Saints Constantine and Helena, Equal-to-the-Apostles. The vaulted stone ceiling of the church, built in 1729 and rebuilt in the mid-19th century, is supported by imposing columns. In the town you can also see the small Kebir Mosque (Cami-i Kebir), built in 1601, and the Shakir Pasha Madrasah (a Muslim educational institution).