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Dromolaxia is a village situated in the Larnaca district, eighteen kilometers southwest of the town of Larnaca and almost two kilometers northwest of Meneou/Menevi village. Goodwin claims that until the nineteenth century the village was called Vromolaxia, meaning “stinking gulch.” Goodwin reports that the people from this area capitalized on a shell called “murex,” from which they produced a popular purple dye that had a terrible smell. With time, the villagers gradually changed the name from Vromolaxia to Dromolaxia to avoid the unpleasant connotations of the former. Since Ottoman times the Turkish Cypriots have used the alternative name Mormenekşe ,meaning “Purple violet” in Turkish. 

 

As can be seen in the above chart, the village has had a mixed population since the Ottoman period. Throughout the British period, while the Turkish Cypriot population of the village increased significantly, the Greek Cypriot population of the village fluctuated. The Turkish Cypriot percentage of the population rose from 26% in 1891 to 44% in 1960.

Displacement:

No one was displaced from this village during the 1950s emergency years nor during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-64. However, the village served as a reception center for displaced Turkish Cypriots who fled the nearby village of Softades/Düzova(373) in 1964. Richard Patrick recorded 40 displaced Turkish Cypriots still living in the village in 1971. The first conflict-related displacement from Dromolaxia/Mormenekşe took place in 1974 and 1975, when the village’s Turkish Cypriot population fled to the Turkish-controlled north of the island, to be resettled in Limnia(164) village in the Famagusta district. Following the resettlement of the displaced Turkish Cypriots from Dromolaxia/Mormenekşe in 1975, the name of Limnia(164) village was changed to Mormenekşe. The total number of displaced Turkish Cypriots from Dromolaxia/Mormenekşe could be estimated to be 270-280 (259 in the 1960 census).

Current Inhabitants:

Currently the village is mainly inhabited by its original Greek Cypriot villagers and Greek Cypriot refugees, with the latter group in the majority. Most of the Turkish Cypriot houses were allocated to Greek Cypriot refugees who fled from the northern part of the divide. Also, a large refugee housing complex with 572 units was completed in August 1979, and over 2,000 displaced persons were settled there. The last Cypriot census of 2001 put the total population at 4,994.  

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• Standing Cypriot Commission for the Standardization of Geographical Names (2007), “Οδηγος Τυποποιησης Ονοματων (Guide to Standardized Names),” Nicosia: Ministry of Education and Culture.
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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)