As may be seen from the chart above, Gialia was a predominantly Turkish Cypriot village from the Ottoman period. Greek Cypriots do not appear in the census records until 1891. Although the Greek Cypriot population steadily increased for some time, their was a considerable decrease in the middle of the 20th century, dropping from 88 in 1931 to 10 in 1946. The remainder of the Greek Cypriots left the village in 1958.
Displacement:
Apart from one Greek Cypriot family, no one was displaced from this village during the emergency years of the late 1950s, nor during the intercommunal violence of 1963-64. However, the village became an important stronghold of Turkish Cypriot Fighters and received displaced Turkish Cypriots from nearby villages such as Kato Gialia and Polis. Richard Patrick recorded 31 displaced Turkish Cypriots still residing in Gialia/Yayla village in 1971. He also put the total population at 750.
During the 1974 war, Gialia was one of the five Paphos villages that did not surrender to Greek Cypriot forces. It continued to function as a Turkish Cypriot enclave until 19 August 1975, and the departure of the Gialia Turkish Cypriots took place in three phases. In January 1975, almost 50 Gialia villagers fled secretly over the mountains to the island’s north, by then under Turkish control. In the second phase, 87 persons, mostly elderly or injured, were transferred to the north under Red Cross or UNFICYP escort on various dates. In the final phase, the remaining 509 villagers were evacuated en masse under UNFICYP escort on 19 August 1975 and subsequently transferred to the northern part of the divide. They were mainly resettled in Syrianochori/Yayla(098) in the Morphou/Güzelyurt area. Some of them were also resettled in the towns of Famagusta(140) and Morphou(072). The number of the original Gialia Turkish Cypriots who were displaced from the village after 1974 was around 650 (610 in 1960 census).
Current Inhabitants:
After the departure of the Gialia/Yayla Turkish Cypriots, the village was used for the settlement of some displaced Greek Cypriots from the island’s north. A few Turkish Cypriot homes have also been renovated by Greek Cypriots as summer residences. The 2001 census put the total population of the village at 142.
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