MOTIDES

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Motides village is situated on the northern slopes of the western part of the Five Finger mountains, only a mile southeast of Karavas/Alsancak and five miles west of the town of Kyrenia. This small village was always exclusively inhabited by Greek Cypriots. Goodwin claims that Motides was the family name of a Greek official who was reponsible for the tax assessment of the area in the seventeenth century. In 1975, Turkish Cypriots changed the village’s name to “İncesu,” literally meaning “thin spring” in Turkish, because of a spring in the vicinity. İncesu merged with the nearby village of Palaiosofos in the 1980s, and since that time these villages have been counted together in censuses.
 
 
Historical Population

As can be seen from the chart above, the village was always inhabited exclusively by Greek Cypriots. During the first half of the twentieth century its population experienced a small increase, from 38 in 1901 to 59 in 1946. However, for reasons that are not clear, its population declined to 53 persons in 1960.

Displacement:

All of the village’s inhabitants were displaced between 20 and 22 July. Currently, like the rest of the displaced Greek Cypriots, the Greek Cypriots of Motidhes are scattered throughout the island’s south. The displaced population of Motidhes can be estimated to be around 40, since there were 40 Greek Cypriots recorded in 1973.

Current Inhabitants:

Following the displacement of its Greek Cypriot inhabitants in 1974, the village was repopulated by displaced Turkish Cypriots from different parts of Paphos, but particularly from Meladeia/Malatya(324) village. There are also some people originally from Turkey who are currently living here. Over the last twenty years, many European citizens and wealthy Turkish Cypriots from elsewhere in the island’s north have bought property and built summer houses here. The 2006 census puts the de jure population of the two villages (Motides and Palaiosofos or Malatya/İncesu) at 150, but during the holiday seasons this number can go up to well over 250.  

 
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