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Limnitis is a village situated in the Tylliria region of Nicosia district, near the coast of Morphou bay, almost ten kilometers west of Xeros. According to Goodwin, Limnitis means “place near pools of water” in Greek. The original village was situated a bit further south, on the northern slopes of the Troodos mountains, and was called Xerovounos. Limnitis was first settled in 1918 when the inhabitants of Xerovounos/Kurutepe moved there. Turkish Cypriots renamed the village Yeşilırmak in 1958, meaning “green river.”

 

 

Until 1960, the population of Limnitis/Yeşilırmak was counted as part of Xerovounos/Kurutepe, thus there were no separate statistics. The first census which recorded Limnitis separately was that of 1960. According to that census, the population of Limnitis/Yeşilırmak was 323, with 315 recorded as Turkish Cypriot and 8 persons as Greek Cypriot.

Displacement:

Although none of the village’s Turkish Cypriots were displaced in the 1960s, during that period the village served as an important reception center for many displaced Turkish Cypriots who fled from nearby villages. According to Richard Patrick, there were still 60 displaced Turkish Cypriots living in the village in 1971. They mainly came from villages such as Ayios Theodoros/Bozdağ(009), Vroisha/Yağmuralan(105), Mansoura/Mansur(066), Sellain T’api/Selçuklu(095), Peristerona(085). Patrick also noted that there were 543 people living in Limnitis/Yeşilırmak in 1971.

Current Inhabitants:

Limnitis/Yeşilırmak is currently largely occupied by its original inhabitants, although there are some Turkish Cypriots displaced from other villages in 1964 or 1974 who remained in the town. The last Turkish Cypriot census of 2006 put the village’s population at 2,908.

  

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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.
• Hill, Sir George, (1952). A History of Cyprus, Vol. IV., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
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• TRNC 2006 census preliminary results can be found at:  www.devplan.org
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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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• 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)