PLATANİSSOS

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Platanissos, or Balalan, is a Turkish Cypriot village situated in the Karpasia/Karpaz peninsula, located six miles south west of Yialousa/Yeni Erenköy and two miles northwest of Leonarisso/Ziyamet village. The name is likely a corrupted version of “platinos,” meaning “plane tree” in Greek. In 1958, Turkish Cypriots changed the name to Balalan, meaning “honey gatherer.” Platanissos/Balalan is known as “the village of lawyers,” because many Turkish Cypriots in the legal profession come from this village. Recently, a campaign was launched to change the village’s name to Zekaköy, after the late judge Mehmet Zeka, who was a Cyprus Supreme Court judge and served on the European Court of Human Rights for more than twenty years. 
 
 
Historical Population:

As can be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Muslims (Turkish Cypriots) constituted 95% of the inhabitants of the village. Throughout the British period the village was solely inhabited by Turkish Cypriots, apart from a handful of Greek Cypriots who appear in the records for short periods of time. During the first half of the 20th century, the village’s population steadily increased from 369 in 1901 to 445 in 1946. However, there was a significant drop in 1960, from 445 to 386. This was due to emigration during the emergency years of the late 1950s, when many Cypriots left for cities and often abroad, especially for England and Australia.

Displacement:

From its original population no one was displaced; however, the village served as a transitory reception centre for some displaced Turkish Cypriots in 1964. In 1971, political geographer Richard Patrick recorded that a small number of displaced families from nearby villages were still living in the village. From 1964 to 1974, Platanissos/Balalan was administratively part of the Turkish Cypriot enclave of Galateia/Mehmetcik(144) and served as an outpost for that enclave. Patrick estimated the village’s population at 395 in 1971, a slight rise from 386 in 1960.

Current Inhabitants:

Currently the village is mainly inhabited by its original villagers. Because of the migration of the youth to find jobs in the cities and abroad, the village’s population declined considerably, from 395 in 1971 to 97 in 2006. Recent reports show that almost all of the remaining inhabitants are elderly, and there is only one child of school age in the village. This child attends school in neighboring Galateia/Mehmetcik(144), as there is no longer a school in Platanissos/Balalan.  


 
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