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Arediou/Aretyu is a village located in the Nicosia district, twenty-six kilometers southwest of the capital city of Nicosia. The origin of the name is obscure. Until 1964, the village was mixed, inhabited by Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots never adopted an alternative name for the village.
Arediou had always been a mixed village. As can be seen from the chart above, in the Ottoman census of 1831, Christians (Greek Cypriots) constituted a slight majority of the population (53%). In 1891 the Christian percentage increased to 65%. Throughout the British period, while the Greek Cypriot population increased steadily, the Turkish Cypriot population fluctuated. By 1960, the Greek Cypriot proportion of the population had risen to 75%.
The first conflict-related displacement took place in 1958. Most of the Turkish Cypriots fled the village and sought refuge in Nicosia due to tensions caused by the activities of EOKA. The Arediou Turkish Cypriots went back to the village when the bi-communal Republic of Cyprus was established in 1960. However, in January 1964, after several of the village’s Turkish Cypriot inhabitants were abducted or killed, the remaining Arediou Turkish Cypriots fled to more secure Turkish Cypriot villages such as Mora/Meriç(071) and Pileri/Göçeri(245). The number of those who were displaced was 90, going by the figures of the 1960 census. None of the Turkish Cypriots from this village returned after 1968, when the barricade of the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was lifted. Currently, the Turkish Cypriots of Arediou are scattered around north Cyprus, with small pockets in the villages of Palaikythro/Balıkesir(081) and Mora/Meriç(071).
Today the village is mainly inhabited by its original Greek Cypriot villagers and other Greek Cypriots who moved here after 1974 from other parts of the island. The last census of 2001 puts the total population of the village at 1,084.
Books and Reports:
Colonial Office (1893), “Cyprus: Report on the census of Cyprus, taken 6th April 1891,” Mediterranean, No. 39. London: Colonial Office.
Department of Statitstics and Research, 1997. Estimates of Turkish Cypriots and Settlers from Turkey, Ministry of Finance [Republic of Cyprus], Nicosia.
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- Hart-Davis, C. H (1922), “Report and general abstracts of the census of 1921, taken on the 24th April, 1921,” London: Waterlow & Sons.
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- Hatay, Mete, (2005). “Beyond Numbers: An Inquiery into the Political Integration of the Turkish ‘Settlers’ in Northern Cyprus,” PRIO/Cyprus Centre Report 4/2005, Nicosia/Oslo, PRIO.
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- KKTC Başbakanlık Devlet Planlama Örgütü Müsteşarlığı, “15 Aralık 1996 Genel Nüfus Sayımı Sonuçları (Özet), 26, November 1997,” Nicosia.
- Mavrogordato, Alexander (1901), “Report and general abstracts of the census of 1901, taken on the 1st April, 1901,” Nicosia: Government Printing Office.
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Perry, Frederic W., 1884. Report on the Census of Cyprus 1881, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London.
- Republic of Cyprus, 1961. “Census of Population and Agriculture, 1960: Volume I: Population by Location, Race, and Sex,” Nicosia
- TRNC 2006 census preliminary results can be found at: www.devplan.org
TRNC Prime Ministry State Planning Organisation Statistics and Research Department, Census of Population: Social and Economic Characteristics of Population, December 15, 1996, TRNC Prime Ministry, Nicosia, 1999.
- Standing Cypriot Commission for the Standardization of Geographical Names (2007), “Οδηγος Τυποποιησης Ονοματων (Guide to Standardized Names),” Nicosia: Ministry of Education and Culture.
- Ministry of Finance (1973), “Micro-Census (April 1973) Population by Village and Ethnic Group, Volume I.” Nicosia: Department of Statistics and Research.
- Özad, Murat Hüsnü (2002), “Baf ve Mücadele Yılları,” Lefkoşa (Nicosia): Akdeniz Haber Ajansı Yayınları.
- Patrick, Richard (1976), “Political Geography and the Cyprus Conflict: 1963-1971,” Department of Geography, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo.
- Percival, D.A. (1949), “Census of population and agriculture 1946 report,” Nicosia: Cyprus Government Printing Office.
- Republic of Cyprus (1962), “Census of population and agriculture, 1960,” Nicosia: Government Printing Office.
- Republic of Cyprus (1984), “Census of population 1982,” Nicosia: Department of Statistics and Research, Ministry of Finance.
- Republic of Cyprus (2003), “Census of population 2001,” Nicosia: Department of Statistics and Research, Ministry of Finance.
- St John-Jones, L. W., 1983. “The Population of Cyprus: Demographic Trends and Socio-Economic Influences” (with a foreword by W. H. Morris-Jones), Maurice Temple, Smith Limited, London.
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- Yorgancıoğlu, Oğuz: Kıbrıs’ta Türkçe Yer Adları ve Veriliş Yöntemleri Üzerine Bir Araştırma Kıbrıs Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt : 2, Sayı : 3, Yıl : 96