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Amargeti is a village located on the southern foothills of the Troodos moutain range, eighteen kilometers northeast of Paphos and three kilometers southwest of Agia Varvara village. There is a widespread belief that the village was named after a princess called Margot who owned the village. It was a mixed village until 1958.

 

 

Amargeti was always a mixed village with a Greek Cypriot majority. As may be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Christians (Greek Cypriots) constituted almost 61% of the population. This ratio increased to 66% in 1891, almost fifteen years after the British arrived. By the end of the first half of the 20^th century, the Greek Cypriot proportion of the population increased to 87%.

Displacement:

Due to rising intercommunal tension, all the Amargeti Turkish Cypriots evacuated the village on 2 July 1958 and sought refuge in Axylou/Aksu(297) village. Unlike some other mixed villages which experienced displacement, the Turkish Cypriot villagers of Amargeti did not go back to their village after the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960. Although some moved to Paphos in the 1960s, the majority stayed in Axylou/Aksu(297) until 1975, when they all moved or fled to the north of the divide. According to some villagers, many of them left secretly over the mountains to the Turkish-controlled north, while most others took refuge in the Akrotiri Sovereign British Base Area. Those who fled to Akrotiri were transferred to north Cyprus via Turkey in January 1975. The others who stayed behind in Axylou/Aksu(297) were eventually escorted by UNFICYP on 30 August 1975 to the northern part of the divide. They were mainly resettled in Lapithos/Lapta(236), Morphou/Güzelyurt(072), Karavas/Alsancak(226), Komi Kebir/Büyük Konuk(155), Nicosia(074) and Famagusta(140). The number of Amargeti Turkish Cypriots who were displaced after 1974 was around 100 -120 (86 in the 1946 census).

Current Inhabitants:

This village is currently occupied only by its original Greek Cypriot inhabitants, although many of the youth prefer to live in urban areas. The Turkish Cypriot neighborhood of the village no longer exists. According to the 2001 census there were only 171 persons living in the village, a considerable drop from 478 in 1976.   

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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)