Friday, January 30, 2009

Eliophotes: abandoned village, destroyed

Eliophotes/Alifodez was a Turkish Cypriot village. Jack Goodwin (1978: 283) judged that '[m]ost residents had left for economic reasons prior to the 1963-4 intercommunal disturbances [and] the rest left at that time. Their houses, already in sad state, were made available to G [Greek Cypriot] refugees in Nov[ember] 1975, but in Aug[ust] 1976 it appeared that there had been no takers. In Apr[il] 1977 some of the old bldgs [buildings] were being demolished as road improvement was undertaken'.

It is clear that "road improvement" was not all that happened. There is only one building left in the village - the Church of Ayioi Eliophotes - and the fountain. The mosque has been destroyed. Every single Turkish Cypriot home has been destroyed. (I don't know whom did this, or whether this happened during the "improvement of the road" or later, but these are basically all of the visible remains of the village.)

Goodwin, J C. 1978: An historical toponymy of Cyprus. Nicosia: Jack C. Goodwin.

(Also posted on samarkeolog.)

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