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Pachna is a village situated in the Limassol district, on the southern foothills of the Troodos mountain range, approximately ten kilometers north of Avdimou/Düzkaya and five kilometers west of Agios Amvrosios. The origin of the name is obscure, although Goodwin suggests that it may mean “feeding place or trough for cattle,” deriving from the ancient Greek word “pachni.” Another possible explanation is that the word pachna or pakhna derives from the word drosopago meaning, “dew droplets which form on vegetation at night.” During the medieval period, the village was called Padina. 

 

As can be seen in the above chart, although the village had a mixed population from the Ottoman period, it was always predominantly inhabited by Greek Cypriots with Turkish Cypriots constituting a tiny minority.

Displacement:

The first conflict-related displacement took place in the1950s when all of the Turkish Cypriots of Pachna left the village and moved to other Turkish Cypriot villages in the vicinity and stayed there. In 1974 all the Turkish Cypriots living in the area fled to the Akrotiri British Base Area. In January and February 1975, all the Turkish Cypriots who sought refuge in the Base areas were transferred to the northern part of the island via Turkey. The total number of displaced Turkish Cypriots originating from Pachna can be estimated to be 40 (18 in the 1946 census).

Current Inhabitants:

Currently the village is inhabited by its original Greek Cypriot villagers. Due to the very intensive emigration of the youth to the cities, the village’s population has significantly declined in recent years. The last Cypriot census of 2001 put the total population at 967 (1,505 in 1976).

  

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• Fellahoğlu, Esat (2010), “Ulusal Direnişte Baf Köyleri,” İstanbul: Bayrak Matbaacılık.
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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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• Republic of Cyprus, 1961. “Census of Population and Agriculture, 1960: Volume I: Population by Location, Race, and Sex,” Nicosia
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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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• 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.
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• 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)