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The twin villages of Kato and Pano Flasou are located in the Solea region of the Nicosia district, two kilometers north of Evryhou. The origin of the name Flasou is obscure, although there are claims that it may derive from a man’s name. Goodwin, for instance, suggests that the name might have originated with a founding landowner. Although these villages appear in most of the census reports as a single village, we know that there were two separate villages in close proximity to each other. Goodwin claims that Kato Flasou did not exist before 1870. All the census reports suggest that Kato Flasou was always a primarily Greek Cypriot village, while the same reports show that Turkish Cypriots constituted the majority in Pano Flasou until 1931. For instance, there were 36 Turkish Cypriots and 26 Greek Cypriots living in Pano Flasou in 1901; in 1921, there were 42 Turkish Cypriots and 30 Greek Cypriots. The chart below shows the villages’ combined populations.

 

 

Considered together, the villages have always been mixed. As can be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Christians (Greek Cypriots) constituted the majority of the population at 64%. In 1891, their percentage increased to 72%. Throughout the British period, while the Greek Cypriot population increased steadily, the Turkish Cypriot population fluctuated and eventually declined. By 1960, the Greek Cypriot share of the population had risen to 81.4%.

Displacement:

The first conflict-related displacement took place during the intercommunal tensions of 1958 caused by the armed EOKA struggle. Almost all the Turkish Cypriot inhabitants of Flasou fled the village and moved to more secure areas. After independence in 1960 they returned. However, they were displaced a second time during intercommunal disturbances in January 1964 and moved to Turkish Cypriot-controlled villages and towns such as Lefka/Lefke(060), Elia/Doğancı(029), Angolemi/Taşpınar(018) and Kazivera/Gaziveran(049). None of the Turkish Cypriots from this village returned. Currently, most of the Turkish Cypriots of Flasou are scattered around north Cyprus with a large pocket in Pentagiea/Yeşilyurt(084). In 1975 the Republic of Cyprus government allocated some of the empty Turkish Cypriot houses to displaced Greek Cypriots on a temporary basis.

Current Inhabitants:

Currently the village is mainly inhabited by its original Greek Cypriot villagers. Since 1974, the village’s population has been in decline, mainly due to migration to the cities. The last census of 2001 puts the total population of the village at 261.  

• Colonial Office (1893), “Cyprus: Report on the census of Cyprus, taken 6th April 1891,” Mediterranean, No. 39. London: Colonial Office.
• Department of Statitstics and Research, 1997. Estimates of Turkish Cypriots and Settlers from Turkey, Ministry of Finance [Republic of Cyprus], Nicosia.
• Fehmi, Hasan (2003), “Güney’de Kalan Değerlerimiz,” Lefkoşa (Nicosia): Özyay Matbaacılık.
• Fellahoğlu, Esat (2010), “Ulusal Direnişte Baf Köyleri,” İstanbul: Bayrak Matbaacılık.
• Giray, Halil: KKTC Yerleşim Birimleri, Yürürlükteki ve Eski İsimler Listesi KKTC İskân Bakanlığı : KKTC Coğrafi İsimler Kataloğu : (Cilt – I and II), Lefkoşa.
• Goodwin, Jack C. (1984), “An Historical Toponymy of Cyprus (Forth edition),” Nicosia (copy number 6).
• Hart-Davis, C. H (1922), “Report and general abstracts of the census of 1921, taken on the 24th April, 1921,” London: Waterlow & Sons.
• Hart-Davis, C. H (1932), “Report of the Census of 1931,” Nicosia: Cyprus Government Printing Office.
• 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.
• Hill, Sir George, (1952). A History of Cyprus, Vol. IV., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Ioannides, Christos P., 1991. “In Turkey’s Image: The Transformation of Occupied Cyprus into a Turkish Province,” Aristide D. Caratzas, New York.
• KKTC Başbakanlık Devlet Planlama Örgütü Müsteşarlığı, “15 Aralık 1996 Genel Nüfus Sayımı Sonuçları (Özet), 26, November 1997,” Nicosia.
• Mavrogordato, Alexander (1901), “Report and general abstracts of the census of 1901, taken on the 1st April, 1901,” Nicosia: Government Printing Office.
• Mavrogordato, Alexander (1912), “Report and general abstracts of the census of 1911, taken on the 2nd April, 1911,” London:  Waterlow & Sons.
• Menardos, Simos (2001), Τοπωνημικαι και Λαογραφικαι Μελεται (Topographical and Folkloric Studies), Nicosia: Centre for Scientific Studies
  Perry, Frederic W., 1884. Report on the Census of Cyprus 1881, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London.
• Republic of Cyprus, 1961. “Census of Population and Agriculture, 1960: Volume I: Population by Location, Race, and Sex,” Nicosia
• TRNC 2006 census preliminary results can be found at:  www.devplan.org
  TRNC Prime Ministry State Planning Organisation Statistics and Research Department, Census of Population: Social and Economic Characteristics of Population, December 15, 1996, TRNC Prime Ministry, Nicosia, 1999.
• Standing Cypriot Commission for the Standardization of Geographical Names (2007), “Οδηγος Τυποποιησης Ονοματων (Guide to Standardized Names),” Nicosia: Ministry of Education and Culture.
• Ministry of Finance (1973), “Micro-Census (April 1973) Population by Village and Ethnic Group, Volume I.” Nicosia: Department of Statistics and Research.
• Özad, Murat Hüsnü (2002), “Baf ve Mücadele Yılları,” Lefkoşa (Nicosia): Akdeniz Haber Ajansı Yayınları.
• Patrick, Richard (1976), “Political Geography and the Cyprus Conflict: 1963-1971,” Department of Geography, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo.
• Percival, D.A. (1949), “Census of population and agriculture 1946 report,” Nicosia: Cyprus Government Printing Office.
• Republic of Cyprus (1962), “Census of population and agriculture, 1960,” Nicosia: Government Printing Office.
• Republic of Cyprus (1984), “Census of population 1982,” Nicosia: Department of Statistics and Research, Ministry of Finance.
• Republic of Cyprus (2003), “Census of population 2001,” Nicosia: Department of Statistics and Research, Ministry of Finance.
• St John-Jones, L. W., 1983. “The Population of Cyprus: Demographic Trends and  Socio-Economic Influences” (with a foreword by W. H. Morris-Jones), Maurice  Temple, Smith Limited, London.
• T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü (2000), “Osmanlı İdaresinde Kıbrıs (Nüfus-Arazi Dağılımı ve Türk Vakıfları),” Ankara: Osmanlı Arşivi Daire Başkanlığı Yayın No: 43.
• Yorgancıoğlu,  Oğuz: Kıbrıs’ta Türkçe Yer Adları ve Veriliş Yöntemleri Üzerine Bir Araştırma Kıbrıs Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt : 2, Sayı : 3, Yıl : 96

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)