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Melandra is a village located on the western foothills of the Troodos mountain range, eleven kilometers southeast of Polis and midway between Lyso and Zacharia. Goodwin suggests that Melandra was named after a type of oak tree called “melandres.” In 1958 Turkish Cypriots adopted the alternative name Beşiktepe, meaning “cradle hill.” 

 

Melandra was a Turkish Cypriot village from the Ottoman period. Throughout the first half of the 20^th century, the total population of the village increased steadily from 140 persons in 1901 to 226 in 1946. There was a slight drop recorded in 1960.

Displacement:

No one was displaced from the village, either during the emergency years of the 1950s, or during the intercommunal strife of 1963-64. After the division of the island in 1974, some of the villagers left clandestinely through the mountains for the island’s north. The remaining 169 persons were evacuated under UNFICYP escort on 3 September 1975 and transferred to the other side of the divide. Many resettled in Assia/Paşaköy(131), while others settled in the villages of Larnaka tis Lapithiou/Kozanköy(238), Prastio/Aydınköy(091), Fyllia/Serhatköy(035) and the towns of Famagusta(140) and Nicosia(074). The total number of Melandra Turkish Cypriots who were displaced after 1974 was approximately 250 (264 in the 1973 census).

Current Inhabitants:

After the departure of the Turkish Cypriots, no one settled in the village. The entire village is now in ruins.   

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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)