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Hamid Mandres was originally a Turkish Cypriot village that is today a suburb of the Turkish Cypriot municipality of Nicosia. It is situated north of the capital, on the new road to Famagusta. Hamid Mandres means “sheepfold of Hamid”both in Greek and Turkish. Until the British arrived, it was only a sheepfold. It grew to be a village in the first decades of the British period. In 1975, Turkish Cypriots slightly changed the name to Hamitköy, meaning “Hamit’s village.” This insignificant village became important when Turkish Cypriots from Omorfita/Küçük Kaymaklı sought refugee there in December 1963 and established one of the island’s largest refugee camps, a tent city where later refugee housing was built.
Historical Population:
Since the Ottoman period until the present, Hamitköy has been predominantly inhabited by Turkish Cypriots. The population of the village increased steadily, growing from 113 in 1891 to 418 in 1960.
Displacement:
No one was displaced from this village during the intercommunal strife of the 1960s. However, during this period, the village served as an important reception center for many displaced Turkish Cypriots who had fled from nearby villages and neighborhoods. According to Richard Patrick, during the December 1963 fighting in Nicosia, Turkish Cypriots fled from some neighborhoods of the old city as well as from the suburbs of Strovolos(097), Aglangia(011), Omorfita(077) and Trakhonas(100). These displaced persons constituted almost 30% of the Turkish Cypriot population of greater Nicosia. Most of these displaced persons moved to the Turkish Cypriot quarters of the walled city or northwards to Ortakeuy(080), Geunyeli(038) or Hamid Mandres. Many displaced families stayed in Hamid Mandres/Hamitköy until 1968 or moved to the Turkish Cypriot quarters in the walled city of old Nicosia. There was an attempt to build refugee housing from mud bricks in 1965 but the project largely failed due to excessive rainfall in that year. Although the majority of displaced persons had moved into Nicosia’s walled city by 1971, Richard Patrick recorded 378 still residing at that time in the Hamid Mandres/Hamitköy refugee camp. After the 1974 war, most of the displaced families were resettled in the empty Greek Cypriot neighborhoods of Nicosia such as Trakhonas(100) and Nea Polis/Yeni Şehir.
Current Inhabitants: Hamid Mandres/Hamitköy is currently inhabited by its original villagers. In addition, there are some Turkish Cypriots who were displaced in 1964 or 1974, most coming from Omorfita/Küçük Kaymaklı(077) and the Paphos district in the south. Over the last twenty years, many other middle class and upper middle class Turkish Cypriots from north Nicosia have also settled in the village/neighborhood, bought property and built new houses. This development overlapped with the exodus of Turkish Cypriots from the walled city to the suburbs for “better” and “modern” accommodations. The last Turkish Cypriot census of 2006 put the village/neighborhood’s population at 2,898. The village officially became a neighborhood and part of the Turkish Cypriot Nicosia municipality in 2008.
REFERENCES
Books and Reports:
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Colonial Office (1893), “Cyprus: Report on the census of Cyprus, taken 6th April 1891,” Mediterranean, No. 39. London: Colonial Office.
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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
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