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The twin villages of Kato and Pano Deftera are located in the Nicosia district of Cyprus, fifteen kilometers south of the capital city of Nicosia. Pano Dheftera is situated almost three kilometers southwest of Kato Dheftera. The Deftera Municipality website offers the following explanation for the origin of the village’s name: “There are several versions in regards to the naming of Deftera.The most possible is that it comes from the name Defteras, that is, the man who kept the account books (defteria).Also, another version is that it comes from the Greek word “to defteri” which also means the “defteroma,” that is, the second (deftero) plowing of the fields.The opinion that prevails today amongst the people of Deftera is that it came from the man who kept the books (account books).”

 

 

The village was always solely inhabited by Greek Cypriots. However, the Ottoman census of 1831 recorded a small number of Muslims living in the village. Throughout the British period the population of the village increased steadily, rising from 488 in 1891 to 945 in 1960.

Displacement:

The inhabitants of Pano Deftera were never displaced, but the village received many displaced Greek Cypriots from the north of the island in 1974 and 1975.

Current Inhabitants:

Currently the village is mainly inhabited by its original Greek Cypriot villagers and displaced Greek Cypriots who moved here after 1974. The last census of 2001 puts the total population of the village at 1,957.

  

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• Hatay, Mete, (2005). “Beyond Numbers: An Inquiery into the Political Integration of the Turkish ‘Settlers’ in Northern Cyprus,” PRIO/Cyprus Centre Report  4/2005, Nicosia/Oslo, PRIO.
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Websites:

• http://www.cyprus-village.com/ (for the villages)
• http://news.karpasha.com/
• http://human-rights-archaeology.blogspot.com/
• http://kypros.org/Occupied_Cyprus/ (for the villages in the north)