The Green Line in Cyprus

The Enclaves

The period beginning December 1963 was one that saw significant movements of population. A large number of mainly Turkish Cypriot villages (and villagers) coalesced into a reduced number of fortified enclaves run by the community’s political leaders and the number of abandoned villages grew.




The main Turkish Cypriot enclaves in 1964

Seventy four mixed villages were evacuated and twenty four wholly Turkish villages were abandoned.



The video below begins with a brief glimpse of a signpost (which is shown again midway through)
The only mixed village in the area within the distances shown above is Diorios (linked to the PRIO displacement website)




This video shows the Turkish Cypriot residents of the mixed village of Diorios leaving for Kampyli (Kambyli) on the 21st January 1964
They are watched by the Greek Cypriot inhabitants (in 1960 the population was split 514 Greek Cypriot and 319 Turkish Cypriot)


This location was visited in 2019...........click the link for more details (opens in a new window)



Turkish Cypriots leave the village of Agios Sozomenos in February 1964 and Greek Cypriots move from an unknown predominantly Turkish Cypriot neighbourhood under the escort of British Truce Force soldiers

The resulting Turkish enclaves occupied less than 3% of Cyprus’s total land area but held almost 18% of the island's population.

It is a tragic irony that many of the evacuated villages were resettled by their original Turkish Cypriot residents when, in 1974, the Greek Cypriot inhabitants fled due to the Turkish invasion.