LIVERAS

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Livera is a small village in the Kyrenia district located on Cape Kormakiti, eight kilometres northwest of the village of Kormakiti. In 1974, this village was solely inhabited by Greek Cypriots. The origin of its name is obscure, but Goodwin suggests that the name derives from d’Olivier, an emissary of the King of France to King Peter I in 1366, suggesting that the village was probably a fief during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In 1975, Turkish Cypriots changed the village’s name to Sadrazamköy, after the Turkish Cypriot Sadrazam family, which owned a large chiftlik in the vicinity of the village. This entire family of seven was killed during the intercommunal troubles of 1964. Sadrazam also means “Grand Vizier” in Turkish.

 
Historical Population

As can be seen from the chart above, since the time of recorded censuses, the Christians always constituted the majority in the village. At the turn of the century there were only one or two Muslim inhabitants in the village. However, later censuses in 1946 and 1960 show several Turkish Cypriot families in the village, a change explicable by the shift in village boundaries during these years, which subsequently included the Turkish Cypriot Kolia chiftlik within the village. Although the population of the village showed a slight increase during the first half of the twentieth century, a substantial drop was recorded in the 1960 and 1973 censuses.

Displacement:

After the above-mentioned murder in January 1964, the rest of the Turkish Cypriots fled the village and sought refuge in nearby Turkish Cypriot villages.

All of the village’s Greek Cypriot inhabitants were displaced in 1974. Between July and August 1974 they fled from the advancing Turkish army to the southern part of the island. Currently, like the rest of the displaced Greek Cypriots, the Greek Cypriots of Livera are scattered throughout the island’s south. The number of Livera Greek Cypriots who were displaced in 1974 was around 130 (123 in the1973 census).

Current Inhabitants:

This village was used for the settlement of Turkish nationals from Turkey in 1976, mainly from the Maçka and Araklı districts on the Black Sea coast. According to the 2006 census the population of the village was 166. During the last ten years, many Turkish Cypriots and European citizens have bought property and settled in the vicinity of the village.  


 
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