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Akoursos is a village located twelve kilometers north of the town of Paphos and four kilometers south of Kathikas, on the southwest foothills of the Troodos mountain range in the Paphos wine area. It had always been a mixed village. Locals, but especially Turkish Cypriots from this village, claim that the origin of the name comes from a Turkish word Akarsu, meaning “running water.” Turkish Cypriots of the village adopted the latter name as an alternative to Akoursos in 1958. However, Goodwin claims that the village was called Acurzos under the Templars as early as 1200 AD. 

 

 

Akoursos/Akarsu was always a mixed village. As can be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Muslims (Turkish Cypriots) constituted almost 65% of the population. Unlike many other mixed villages, this ratio continued until 1960.

Displacement:

Due to the intercommunal strife of 1958 and with the encouragement of the Turkish Cypriot leadership, the majority of the Turkish Cypriots left the village in that year for Skylloura(096) (Yılmazkoy in Turkish), a village in the Nicosia district. After the establishment of the Republic in 1960, they all returned to Akoursos/Akarsu. However, in January 1964 some fled again, taking refuge in the Mandria(322) and Paphos(329) enclaves. A couple of months later, most of those who left returned.

All the Turkish Cypriots of the village were once again displaced after the 1974 war. In September 1974, twenty of them left secretly over the mountains to the Turkish-controlled areas in the north. Some also fled to the Akrotiri British Base Area and from there were transferred to north Cyprus via Turkey in January 1975. Those who remained in the village after that date (85 persons) were escorted by UNFICYP on 3 September 1975 to the northern part of the barbed wire. They were mainly resettled in Lapithos/Lapta(236) and Larnakas tis Lapithou/Kozan(238) in Turkish), villages in the Kyrenia district. There were another ten families who were dispersed among other villages in north Cyprus. It is believed that only one elderly Turkish Cypriot remained in the village until his death. The number of Akoursos/Akarsu Turkish Cypriots who were displaced after 1974 must have been around 150 (126 in 1960 census).

Current Inhabitants:

The village is currently occupied only by its original Greek Cypriot inhabitants, although many of the youth have migrated to urban areas. At the time of the 2001 census, there were only 38 persons left in the village.   

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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)