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Lapithiou is a village located on the southwest foothills of the Troodos mountain range, two kilometers southwest of Panayia Khrysorroyiatissa monastery. The village was completely destroyed during the 1953 earthquake, and in 1954 the government (British) rebuilt the whole village from prefabricated houses. Goodwin claims that the village was named after a place in Greece from which its first settlers may have migrated sometime during the late Bronze Age. However, Turkish Cypriot villagers claim that the name means “small Lapithos,” and they believe that the first settlers of the village came from the town of Lapithos/Lapta in the Kyrenia region. Turkish Cypriots adopted the alternative name of Bozalan in 1958. It might have been inspired by a name in Turkey. 

 

 

As may be seen from the chart above, the village was solely inhabited by Turkish Cypriots from the Ottoman period. During the British period, the population of the village fluctuated between 110 and 150.

Displacement:

No one was displaced from this village during the emergency years of the 1950s. However, on 8 March 1964, Greek Cypriot forces surrounded the village, and a clash ensued. After this incident, the Turkish Cypriots of Lapithiou fled to the nearby village of Anadiou/Görmeli(290). Poor conditions in Anadiou(290) forced them to move ten days later to Chrysochou/Altıncık(299) village. Despite the conditions under which they left, however, some Lapithiou Turkish Cypriots returned to the village during harvest time, and later many chose to return. In 1971 there were 110 people living in Lapithiou. The 1973 census put the village’s population at 203 but this must have been just an estimation rather than the actual count since the Turkish Cypriot sources claim that approximately 50 of the village’s inhabitants continued to stay, until 1974, in the villages where they had sought refuge in 1964.

In 1975 the Lapithiou Turkish Cypriots, both those living in their village and those who had earlier moved to another village, began their move to the north. While some families left secretly over the mountains, 75 stayed behind and were eventually transferred to north Cyprus under the escort of UNFICYP on 27 August 1975. They were mainly resettled in Larnaca tis Lapithou/Kozanköy(238), Lapithos/Lapta(237), Morphou/Güzelyurt(072), Kyra/Mevlevi(055), Agridaki/Alemdağ(212), Kythrea/Değirmenlik(056), Komi Kebir/Büyük Konuk(155) and Famagusta(140). The number of Lapithiou Turkish Cypriots who were displaced after 1974 was around 170-180 (156 in 1960 census).

Current Inhabitants:

After the departure of the Turkish Cypriots, Lapithiou/Bozalan village was not used for any resettlement. All the houses of the village fell into ruins.   

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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)