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Pano (Upper) Polemidia is one of the twin villages of Polemidia. It is situated in the Limassol district, immediately northwest of the town of Limassol. Pano and Kato (Lower) Polemidia took their name from the deciduous polemidkia tree(German medlar-tree). The fruits of this tree are called polemidkia or polemidia and are edible. Turkish Cypriots adopted the alternative name Yukarı (Upper) Binatlı in 1958. Binatlı literally means “thousand horsemen.” Binatlı is also a place name in use in Turkey.
Historical Population
During the Ottoman period, the village was solely inhabited by Muslims. In the population censuses of 1881 and 1891, the inhabitants of Pano Polemidia were counted with the inhabitants of Kato Polemidia. Until the second quarter of the century, the population of the village was mixed, with Turkish Cypriots constituting the majority. Most of the Greek Cypriot inhabitants left the village by 1911. During the British period, the population of the village increased from 121 persons in 1901 to 216 in 1960.
Displacement:
No one was displaced from this village during the 1950s emergency years, nor during the intercommunal strife of 1963-64. Richard Patrick claims that both Kato Polemidia and Pano Polemidia present an anomaly. He notes that during the 1960s, when many of the Turkish Cypriot villages were not accessible to the Greek Cypriot authorities of the Republic of Cyprus, the Greek Cypriot police were freely patrolling the Turkish Cypriot village centers. Many Greek Cypriots were also mixing freely with the Turkish Cypriots in these villages. Though there was a Greek National Guard stationed in the vicinity of the village, uniformed Turkish Cypriot Fighters were openly walking the streets of these villages. Apparently, the Greek Cypriot police of the Republic of Cyprus tolerated their presence as long as they did not carry any weapons (Patrick 1976, 308).
The first conflict-related displacement from Pano Polemidia/Binatlı took place in July 1974, when the village’s Turkish Cypriot population fled to the Akrotiri British Base Area. While some fled clandestinely to the north, most stayed in the Base Area until January 1975, when they were all transferred via Turkey to the island’s north. They were mainly resettled in Morphou. The total number of the displaced Turkish Cypriots from Pano Polemidia/Yukarı Binatlı can be estimated to be 250 (218 in the 1960 census).
Current Inhabitants: Currently the village is mainly inhabited by displaced Greek Cypriots from the north. According to Goodwin many of the first displaced persons who settled in the village came from Argaki(020) and Kato Zodeia(047) villages in the Morphou area of north Cyprus. After the restoration of the Turkish Cypriot houses in the village, displaced Greek Cypriots were resettled there. Later on, self-housing schemes for displaced people were created in five areas of the village. The last Cypriot census of 2001 put the total population at 3,741 (www.panopolemidia.org).
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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