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Kalavasos is a village situated in the Larnaca district, five kilometers southeast of the Kalavasos mines and north of the Nicosia-Limassol highway. Goodwin claims that Kalavasos means “good wooded valley,” although he points out that some local villagers claim the word Kalavasos means “good breeze.” Since the Ottoman period, the Turkish Cypriots have called the village Kalavason, a slight variation of Kalavasos. They have not adopted another Turkish name.

 

 

As can be seen in the above chart, the village has had a mixed population since the Ottoman period. In 1831, the population of the village was almost shared evenly between the communities, but during the British period the Greek Cypriot share of the population increased. Throughout the first half of the 20^th century, while the Turkish Cypriot population fluctuated, the Greek Cypriot population increased significantly. However, at the end of the British period, the Turkish Cypriot population of the village significantly recovered, rising from 187 in 1946 to 243 in 1960. During the same period the Greek Cypriot population of the village declined considerably, dropping from 1,051 in 1946 to 881 in 1960.

Displacement:

The first conflict-related displacement took place in December 1963, when all the Kalavasos Turkish Cypriots fled and sought refuge in the nearby Turkish Cypriot villages of Mari/Tatlısu(363), Kivisili/Cevizli(358) and Tochni/Taşkent(374). The number of Turkish Cypriots who fled the village was approximately 250 (243 in 1960). They remained in those locations where they sought refuge until 1974, when they were once again moved, this time to the northern part of the island, where they were resettled in Belapais/Beylerbeyi(214) village.

Current Inhabitants:

Currently the village is mainly inhabited by its original Greek Cypriot villagers. The last Cypriot census of 2001 put the total population at 644.  

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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)