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Pentagiea is a village located near Morphou/Güzelyurt bay, seven kilometers east of Xeros on the Morphou road. Pentagiea means “seven saints” in Greek. In 1975, Turkish Cypriots changed the name to Yeşilyurt, meaning “green country.”

 

 

The village was a Christian village during the Ottoman period. As can be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Christians (Greek Cypriots) constituted the sole inhabitants of the village. Throughout the British period the population of the village grew significantly from 77 in 1891 to 1,078. By 1960, a tiny Turkish Cypriot population had begun to emerge. However, Greek Cypriots still constituted almost 98% of the population.

Displacement:

During the intercommunal fighting of 1963-64, all the Turkish Cypriots fled the village and sought refuge in the Lefka/Lefke(060) enclave. In August 1974, the entire Greek Cypriot population fled the village from the advancing Turkish army. Currently, like the rest of the displaced Greek Cypriots, the Greek Cypriots of Pentagiea are scattered throughout the island’s south, with large pockets in towns. The number of the Pentagiea Greek Cypriots who were displaced in 1974 was approximately 1,350 (1,318 in the 1973 census).

Current Inhabitants:

Currently the village is mainly inhabited by displaced Turkish Cypriots from nearby villages which either ended up on the other side of the divide or are now used for military purposes. They mainly derive from Agios Epiphanios/Esendağ(005) (Aybifan), Korakou(051), Flasou/Flasu(034), Amadies/Günebakan(015), Agios Georgios (Lefkas)/Madenliköy(006), Koutrafas/Kurtboğan(054), etc. There are also many displaced families from Alektora/Gökağaç(256) village in Limassol district and Paphos villages such as Melateia/Malatya(324). In addition, there is a small number of families from Turkey who settled in the village during 1976-77. The last Turkish Cypriot census put the village’s population at 1,278.  

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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)