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Vretsia or Vrecha (called by the villagers) is a village located on the southwestern foothills of the Troodos mountain range, five kilometers southeast of Panayia Khrysorryiatissa monastery and three kilometers northeast of Kilinia. Vretcha means “getting wet” in Cypriot Greek. In 1958 Turkish Cypriots adopted the alternative name Dağaşan, meaning “persons who overcome the mountain.”

 

 

As may be seen from the chart above, the village was predominantly inhabited by Turkish Cypriots from the 19^th century. Throughout the 20th century, the population of the village fluctuated and eventually increased slightly, from 305 in 1891 to 386 in 1960.

Displacement:

No one was displaced from Vrecha during either the emergency years of the 1950s or the intercommunal fighting of 1963-64. However, during the latter period Vrecha received many displaced Turkish Cypriots from the nearby village of Galataria/Yoğurtçular(305). Richard Patrick recorded 33 displaced Turkish Cypriots still living in the village in 1971. He also put the total population of the village at 456 in that year.

During the war of 1974, the Turkish Cypriot Fighters of Vrecha refused to surrender their guns to Greek Cypriot forces who were trying to disarm the Turkish villages. After a ceasefire was declared in late August of that year, many villagers took their weapons and fled over the mountains to the north, then under Turkish control. During this period, the village also became a transit area for Turkish Cypriots who were trying to get to the Turkish-controlled north through the mountains. The 160 persons who remained in Vrecha were eventually evacuated to the north under UNFICYP escort on 1 September 1975. They were resettled in many different villages such as Lapithos/Lapta(237), Neo Chorio/Minareliköy(073), Zodeia/Bostancı(047), and Katokopia/Zümrütköy(048), as well as in the towns of Famagusta(140), Nicosia(074), Kyrenia(236) and Morphou/Güzelyurt(072). The number of Vretcha/Dağaşan Turkish Cypriots who were displaced after 1974 was around 500 (498 in the 1973 census).

Current Inhabitants:

Goodwin claims that in 1978 there were one or two families residing in Vrecha, but today the village is empty and in 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)