Ayios Theodoros / Çayırova
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Ayios Theodoros Αγίος Θεοδώρος Çayırova |
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| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (de facto)
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| District : |
İskele
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| Geographic coordinates : | 35 ° 22 ′ N , 34 ° 2 ′ E | ||
| Residents : | 430 (2006) | ||
Ayios Theodoros ( Greek Αγίος Θεοδώρος , Turkish Çayırova ) is a place on the Karpas peninsula in eastern Cyprus.
history
After the ancient city of Elea near Cape Elaia was destroyed by a severe earthquake in 343, the survivors moved inland to the place where Ayios Theodoros, named after a Christian martyr, a Roman soldier, came into being. When Muslim pirates destroyed the neighboring Ayia Theodora, its inhabitants also moved there. During the Venetian rule (1489 to 1570/71) the place became the agricultural center of the region, but fell into disrepair during the early Ottoman era.
In the 18th century the place had only a few inhabitants, but in 1831 there were again 31 Turkish and 34 Greek men. At the beginning of the 20th century the place grew and the first telegraph station connected the island with Syria from here . In 1891 there were already 258 Greeks and 69 Turks, ten years later there were 375 and 96 respectively. In 1911 the number rose to 507 and 122. From then on, the number of Turks in 1921, 1931 and 1946 fell from 85 60 to 66, while the proportion of Greeks in the same counts grew from 517 and 512 to 782, respectively. In 1958 most of the Turks fled the town. In 1960, 805 Greeks and 23 Turks lived there, but the latter fled the place for good to Mehmetçik / Galatia and Livadia / Sazlıköy in 1963 . In 1973 there were no more Turks living in the village.
On August 14, 1974, most of the Greek Cypriots fled the Turkish army to Dhekelia , where a British garrison was located. Around 150 families now live in Great Britain. The town's three churches were looted. Of the 810 Greeks, 30 stayed until October 1975. In September 1976, only five Greeks lived in Ayios Theodoros. The last of them left the village in December 1981.
The Greeks were replaced by Turks, of whom 324 lived in the village in 1978. Most of them came from Lefkara and Kofinou / Geçitkale , from where they had fled; some also came from the nearby Turkish enclave Ayios Evstathios / Zeybekköy . In 1976 and 1977 some families from Turkey were added. In 2006 there were 430 Turkish residents. On October 31, Rauf Denktaş , who had been exiled from the island since 1964 , tried to secretly return to Cyprus at Ayios Theodoros.
Remarks
- ↑ Leonidas Leonidou: Ayios Theodoros Karpasias (Λεωνίδας Λεωνίδου: Αγιος Θεοδωρος Καρπασίας ), 2nd edition, 2015.
- ↑ Routes of Displacement and Resettlement / Famagusta / Agios Theodoros
- ^ Pierre Oberling: The Road to Bellapais. The Turkish Cypriot Exodus to Northern Cyprus , 1982, p. 137.