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Tavrou is located on the Karpas/Karpaz peninsula, a mile north of the village of Vokholida/Bafra, and one and a half miles from the peninsula’s south coast. Before 1974, this village was solely inhabited by Greek Cypriots. Tavros means “bull” in Greek. In 1975, Turkish Cypriots renamed the village Pamuklu, meaning “place with cotton” or “made of cotton.”

 

 

As can be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Christians constituted the only inhabitants of the village. Tavrou remained a solely Greek Cypriot village throughout the British period. Although the population of the village showed a slight increase during the first half of the 20^th century, a significant drop was recorded after 1946.

Displacement:

Most of the village’s inhabitants were displaced in 1974. They fled in August 1974 from the advancing Turkish army to the southern part of the island. However, 47 persons attempted to stay in the village and were enclaved there until August 1976, when they were transferred to the southern part of the divide. Currently, like the rest of the displaced Greek Cypriots, the Greek Cypriots of Tavrou are scattered throughout the island’s south, with small pockets in towns. The number of the Greek Cypriots who were displaced after the 1974 war was around 330 (323 in 1973 census).

Current Inhabitants:

This village was mainly used for the settlement of Turkish nationals from Turkey in 1976 and 1977. These persons derived mostly from Giresun and Ordu on the Black Sea coast and from Yozgat province in central Anatolia. According to the 2006 Turkish Cypriot census the population of the village was 256.  

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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)