AREDIOU

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Arediou/Aretyu is a village located in the Nicosia district, twenty-six kilometers southwest of the capital city of Nicosia. The origin of the name is obscure. Until 1964, the village was mixed, inhabited by Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots never adopted an alternative name for the village.
 
 
Historical Population:

Arediou had always been a mixed village. As can be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Christians (Greek Cypriots) constituted a slight majority of the population (53%). In 1891 the Christian percentage increased to 65%. Throughout the British period, while the Greek Cypriot population increased steadily, the Turkish Cypriot population fluctuated. By 1960, the Greek Cypriot proportion of the population had risen to 75%.

Displacement:

The first conflict-related displacement took place in 1958. Most of the Turkish Cypriots fled the village and sought refuge in Nicosia due to tensions caused by the activities of EOKA. The Arediou Turkish Cypriots went back to the village when the bi-communal Republic of Cyprus was established in 1960. However, in January 1964, after several of the village’s Turkish Cypriot inhabitants were abducted or killed, the remaining Arediou Turkish Cypriots fled to more secure Turkish Cypriot villages such as Mora/Meriç(071) and Pileri/Göçeri(245). The number of those who were displaced was 90, going by the figures of the 1960 census. None of the Turkish Cypriots from this village returned after 1968, when the barricade of the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was lifted. Currently, the Turkish Cypriots of Arediou are scattered around north Cyprus, with small pockets in the villages of Palaikythro/Balıkesir(081) and Mora/Meriç(071).

Current Inhabitants:

Today the village is mainly inhabited by its original Greek Cypriot villagers and other Greek Cypriots who moved here after 1974 from other parts of the island. The last census of 2001 puts the total population of the village at 1,084.

  


 
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