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Agios Thomas (Aytuma for Turkish Cypriots) is a village situated in the Limassol district, four kilometers northwest of Avdimou and two kilometers south of Anogyra. Ayios Thomas means “Saint Thomas” in Greek. Until 1958, the Turkish Cypriot alternative name of the village was Aytuma. However, in 1958, they adopted another alternative name, Mersinli, literally meaning “place with Mersin trees” in Turkish. 

 

As can be seen in the above chart, Agios Thomas/Mersinli had been a Turkish Cypriot village from the Ottoman period. Throughout the British period, the population of the village increased significantly, rising from 99 persons in 1891 to 214 in 1960.

Displacement:

No one was displaced from this village during the 1950s emergency years, nor during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-64. However, in 1964, the village served as a reception center for displaced Turkish Cypriot families who fled the nearby villages of Prastio/Çeliktaş(279) and Gerovasa/Yerovası(264). Richard Patrick recorded 24 displaced Turkish Cypriots still living in the village in 1971. The first conflict-related displacement from Agios Thomas/Mersinli took place in late July 1974, when the village’s Turkish Cypriot population fled to the Akrotiri British Base Area. They stayed there until January 1975, when the entire village was transferred via Turkey to the northern part of the island and resettled mainly in Kontea/Türkmenköy(156) village of the Famagusta district. The total number of displaced Turkish Cypriots from Agios Thomas/Mersinli can be estimated to be 240-250 (214 in the 1960 census).

Current Inhabitants:

Currently the village is mainly inhabited by a small number of displaced Greek Cypriots from the island’s north (mainly from Karpasia peninsula). The last Cypriot census of 2001 put the total population at only 29.  

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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)