The most definite plan today is that in July, 2000, I am going to Cappadocia. I have agreed to rent a house in the village of Selime for three months. There I will live and do whatever I can.

What will happen then depends heavily upon people who would come there and which things out of those described here will be done. So,

plans and dreams:

1. Paperwork
2. Our communication
3. Transport
4. At the spot
5. Financial

1. Paperwork. Paper work is a mere confusion at the moment. We haven't yet figured out how to register ourselves. A German friend of mine, himself living in Cappadocia has once said to me: One doesn't need a permission to wreck those cloisters, but to restore them one has to have it. And, most likely, they won't give that permission to you. It sounds very much like the actual situation, since many of the cloisters are now being used as store space by local peasants and shepherds. Surely they didn't ask for a legal permission to do it. So, as far as various funds and organizations we could get help from, here are some options:

- UNESCO. In 1985 UNESCO "encouraged the Turkish authorities to proceed with the legal formalities for the setting up of a Goreme National Park". According to what I know the Park indeed exists. "Goreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia" is listed among other Historical and Nature Sites supervised by UNESCO (http://www.unesco.org/whc/sites/357.htm). "The Rock Sites of Cappadocia" is a fairly vague definition though, as in reality the sites stretch out for hundreds of kilometres. Still, to get legal support from a fund like UNESCO would certainly help. I can't guarantee you the Turkish authorities will be impressed by the fact of that support, but still.

- Organizations and funds, similar to UNESCO ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites (http://www.international.icomos.org/e_sumary.htm)), International Culture Property Protection, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), etc.

- The Greek Orthodox Church In theory, the region submits to the Constantinople Patriarchy. It is very possible that the idea of the restoration of churches will be appealing to the Patriarchy. We have to bear in mind though, that the relations between Turkey and Greece are rather tense since the war in twenties, so we can't be sure how much power the Patriarchy actually has here.

- The Russian Orthodox Church We'll have to contact them in Turkey. I really hope that the believers will join us in restoring of churches. The undesirable consequence would be them wanting to set up a church of their own there. On the other hand, they might not trust us, as we don't represent a religious organization. I don't know enough to be exact about it, anyway.

- Local Turkish Authorities The subject I know the least about. We could register as an organization protecting and restoring churches and cloisters in the area. After all, we could register as an organization planting trees and gardens to make our way around the authorities.

It could well be that we fail the legal side completely. I don't think that to be the end of the world. We can still go as tourists, stay in the village and explore the churches. The villagers don't go there that often anyway. One drawback of working unofficially is the chance for the results of our work to be confiscated. But as we don't plan any fundamental restoration work ( white-washing, wall-painting) we won't risk loosing it either. And what we will do will definitely not get us into prison. But if the official side of the project falls through, we would have to do some thorough preparation work for next year.
2. Our communication.
I would like to see a group of people working on that. Myself I live in Israel. I also hope that my former countrymen will work together with us. Working in Turkey is definitely an advantage, since both nationalities are allowed in the country.

The camp will be active from July till October, so anyone can come and join us during that time period. As far as communication goes, we could count on the postal address and telephone at most. The closest Internet access is at the district centre, half-an-hour bus ride away. It would be great if all participants of the project were able to contact each other anytime in order to keep each other informed of what's going on. To make this possible I would suggest having co-ordinators working with us. We would need at least three of them, based each in Israel, Ukraine and Russia. Their responsibilities will include: working with I-net (e-mail), making telephone calls and doing correspondence work. They could contact the camp, say, once a week and forward the necessary information.

We haven't found such people yet, except for my friends in Israel who will be helping us. At first, naturally, there won't be much work for co- ordinators, but the situation will change as we proceed with the project. It might not be the best idea, but we could divide the responsibilities between several co-ordinators, like we did in Israel, with one person responsible for phone-calls and another - for I-net and mail. Either way, finding people who would be willing and interested to work as co-ordinators is what I see as absolutely necessary for us at this point.

Another option for those with e-mail would be group notification.
3. Transport dreams.
It's quite inexpensive to get to Cappadocia. The closest city is Aksarai, of big cities-Ankara. There are buses which go to Istanbul, steamships, charter trips, etc. We could hitchhike - that I've done myself, in Turkey as well as in the Balkans. We could also travel through Romania and Bulgaria, where the cost of travel is very cheap.

If we travel as a group, we could sail to Cappadocia. I know people with a yacht who make regular trips to from Haifa to Mersin (the closest harbour - a five-hour drive from Cappadocia). Or we could sail from Odessa or from the Crimea to the north shore of Turkey. Sailing has lots of advantages: firstly, it will be cheaper since we will split the cost, secondly, we can take more luggage with us, and, after all, we would have a great time on the yacht. Though it is cheaper to buy things in Turkey, but some things, like old clothing for the camp it might be better to bring along.

4. On the spot.
There are many ancient deserted churches near Selime (look at the photo) Out of all that I visited I am fond of two. One of them is just wonderful, many things are preserved there including interior, mural paintings. (look at the photo).

The second one is well outside the village, inside one of the "pyramids".(look at the photo).

5. Finances.
The prices in Turkey are modest, something in between Western and Eastern Europe. Many things are very cheap, but it's not obvious for outsider. For example, food. Our financial matters I'd prefer to simplify as much as possible. The rent of the house costs me $400 for three months, it's 4.5 dollars a day. Food for one person, by my estimation (from the store, not in a restaurant) costs about 1.5-2 millions a day (bread, cheese, ham, vegetables, soups, sweets), it's about $3. If we will cook together it'll be less, of course.

People who will come in order to join the project, if they lack funds, can live for free in the conditions of camp, and eat together with the team. There is a number of other options. It is possible to rent another house. We can repair a cave and to live there. One could rent a room in the motel next door - it's about $10 a day. One could help the local hotel to advertise them among tourists, and have a room and board there for no money (I got one such suggestion, but am not going to do it. The most useful languages for that are English, German and French.