History/Tarih P.2
Village history part 2.
It seems that like the rest of the Island a large and lethal plague caused by a large earthquake in 1756 followed by a great drought and swarms of locusts in 1757 caused so much hardship and starvation that many Cypriots were forced to leave the island. The remaining population was reduced to rely on a meagre diet and whatever wild roots they could collect. A census of Cyprus in 1777 put the population as follows
12,000 Christian males.
25,000 Females and children.
15,000 Turkish males.
32,000 Females and children.
84,000 Total. [1]
The evidence for the stagnation in the population of Lurucina is very conclusive, for when William Turner ( staff member of Sir Robert Liston, The British Ambassador to Constantinople in 1812 ) passed through “Looretzena” he observed that there were around “30” houses. Considering that in 1572 there were 27 adult males the difference in 1812 was virtually identical, and this after 240 years. It’s interesting to point out that W Turner was accompanied by a Janissary named İbrahım who lived in “Thali”. His description of “Thali” was that it was much better cultivated then the surrounding countryside. This obviously means that “Looretzena” was pretty much uncultivated or derelict. [2]
The entry of newcomers to Lurucina in the late 1700s and early 1800’s seemed to change the destiny of the Village. Contrary to what most people believe not all Lurucadi’s have been in the village since the 1500s. One look at the family tree of the Zabuni’s and Siliono’s ( more recent comers to the village) to cite just a couple are sufficient proof that many of the present generations are descendants of these families. The Gatsura’s seemed to be present in the village at least since the start of the period covered in the family tree section, as were the Kavaz who were descendants of the Katri’s. The Tahura’s and the Tsuro’s also seem old families.There were of course additions from nearby, for example The Siliono’s from Pirga and Zabuni from Kalopsida village, by the same token many people from Bodamya, Dali, Piroi, Tuzla and most of all Anglisiya have many people descended from Lurucina. The Kavaz and Galaba’s originated from one family. In fact it’s clear that most of the people are descended from no more then 6-8 family groups.
When the British took over the Island they carried out what was probably the most comprehensive census to date. The figures for Lurucina were as follows
Males 317
Females 281
Total 598
In addition there were 134 houses of which 4 were empty. so the average household had 4.6 persons. 10% of the people were Greek Cypriots. [3]
In 1884 tragedy struck the village. Hasan Mustafa ‘Gondilisi’ and Bekir Ramadan ‘ikiz’ were at Sefer ‘Hacaro’s house. A massive argument took place ending in tragedy with Bekir killing Hasan. [4] For a village of only 600 people the news must have come like a thunderbolt. What the argument was about is unclear but according to an old timer Hasan a big and tough person often joked about Bekir being short or skinny. With so many people at the wedding party, Bekir felt humiliated and stabbed Hasan to death, but the effect and bad blood left between the families must have been tremendous. In another section of his book Ibrahim states that the killing took place at Sefer ‘Hacaro’s’ wedding. Naturally all weddings in those days took place in people’s homes. If the dispute took place during a wedding ceremony then it makes the situation even more tragic. Lurucina would go on to experience such tragedy in the future. We shall come to that later.
Lurucina’s destiny was about to change from being a normal small village to the largest Turkish village on the Island. In 1881 for every one Lurucinali there were 76 Turkish Cypriots, by 1921 it changed to one in 50. This transformation was a result of the healthy growth of a few families like the Siliono’s, Kavaz, Gatsura’s, Tsuro’s and Gotsa’s ( together with their extended families ) having a generation of many children that survived.
What we take for granted today in the form of health and medical service’s was sadly lacking. As an example when the British took over in 1881 Cyprus had 78 known cases of Leprosy. [5] According to Frederick W. Barry, MD., ScD the suspected numbers were much higher, and were only kept low by the fear of sufferers that they would be dis-inherited and cast out of the family. [6] It was against this backdrop that Lurucina was starting to change.
The new generations of hard working and enterprising people had begun to buy lands in large amounts. The story goes that Mehmet Kavaz ( Guard) son of Ismail Mehmet ‘Kacari’ having earned tremendous amounts of money during his profession as bodyguard ( Kavaz) during the period estimated around 1840-1860 invested his hard earned money in land. Mehmet Kavaz’s sons Yusuf, ‘Çavus’, Seid-Ali, Bekir ‘Bekiro, Arif ‘Paşha’ and İsmail ‘İsmailo’ followed their father into the military service. The dangers of serving in Turkey at a time of constant warfare was dangerous, but the rewards of survival ensured a comfortable future at a time when most people were living in massive poverty. let’s not forget that it was during this period when the Ottoman empire was collapsing. The Crimean war, the Balkans, Caucasus and endless wars with the expanding Russian empire caused unimaginable hardship on the Turkish people. The risks of protecting Padishahs as Kavaz’s, meant one had to be immensely tough, brave, and put the welfare of the master before one’s own life. No doubt the Kavaz family must have been unique.
Many families seemed to be encouraged by the success of others and the effort to acquire land grew. Proof of this fact is that by 1931 the total land owned by the population was 6 donums per person. [7] Details of land and ownership is provided in the next section on the census report of 1931. In the meantime other problems in the early 1920s were a cause for concern The Ottoman empire had collapsed and the destiny of the Turkish Cypriots was uncertain. This site is not concerned with the comprehensive study of that period however, only with the parts that affected our village.
On 25 March 1921 (the anniversary of the start of the Greek war of independence of 1821) the Leaders of the Greek community in Lurucina participated in a plebiscite and voted for Enosis with Greece. Seven leading members of the Greek Community signed on behalf of the Village and the relationship with the Turkish Cypriots became strained as a result [8] Greece had invaded Turkey and early Greek successes encouraged the Greek Cypriots of ultimately joining mother Greece. By 1924 the tension reached boiling point.
The local priest in an attempt to convert the Turkish Muslim villagers into Christians was met with massive hostility, in-spite of warnings the priest persisted. Tragically on the 24 September 1924 the priest Charalambous Michaelides was found battered to death in his garden. The decision to murder him would plunge the village into a tense atmosphere rarely seen. A sad by-product of this was the trial which ended on the 17th November 1924 and the hanging of 2 innocent suspects which took place on the 24 November 1924. [9] The 2 brothers Yusuf and Mustafa were sons of Bairam Osman ‘Buttari’ great grandchildren of Mustafa Yusuf ‘Şiliono’. The Buttari’s were the fore-runners of the ‘Gato’ family.
By all accounts the 2 brother were just simple folks and could not possibly commit such a crime. The reason for directing the blame onto these two unfortunates was that being mentally immature it was hoped they would not be hanged Apparently they were encouraged to confess, and the attention from the real perpetrator’s was diverted. Not quite understanding the implications of their confession they were tried and hanged. The true identity of the real perpetrators has never been proven so speculating on the subject would be unethical.
It was on a Tuesday morning when Mustafa and Yusuf were to be hanged. An emotional wake-up call by one of the brothers has been recalled by some older people. Whether it was one of the brothers that recited the ‘Chatista’ (Mani/poem) or whether it was another member of the village after their death is open to question, but for those who understand Greek the following last wake up call to his brother is enough to soften the hardest hearts.
Eshi enaz astro’s diz borniz, gondaston bos-beridin,
ksipna aerthimmu Batta, je ksimeroni dridi.
In 1925 Cyprus became a Crown colony and all rights by the new Republic of Turkey were abandoned. Many Turkish Cypriots decided to leave the island rather than accept permanent British rule. Though some did leave, there is no evidence that many in Luricina left during the 1920’s as the population continued to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the Turkish Cypriots during this period.
Sadly another Plebiscite on 25 March 1930 demanding enosis repeated the same result. 6 leading members of the Greek community in Lurucina supported the plebiscite and signed the book. The signature Pavlou Sergiou appears twice on the plebiscite. [10] Whether he was head of 2 committees and therefore signed on behalf of both is uncertain. What is clear is that he also signed the 1921 Plebiscite. This had the support of the vast majority of the Greek population. The village was again thrown into tension but fortunately the tragedy of the early 1920’s was not repeated.
The following are the details from 1931 census taken by the British on the village of Lurucina, with a small analysis of the results.
651 Turkish Males
584 Turkish Females
1.235 Total
67 Greek males
83 Greek Females
150 Total
Total buildings were
316 Inhabited
12 Uninhabited
10 Being built
7.137 Dönüms of Arable land.
1.099 Dönüms of Vineyards
81 Dönüms of gardens
8.317 Dönüms in total
30 persons owned less than 5 Dönüms
71 persons without any land at all.
1.492 Olive trees
37 Carob (Harnip) trees
672 Other fruit trees
2.201 Total
In addition there were
136 Oxen
69 Mules
334 Donkeys
13 Horses. [11]
It’s clear by the above statistics that 90% of the population were Turkish and land ownership in general was very high at the time. As for the mother tongue of each community. No exact figures are given for Lurucina. But the mother tongue for the whole of the Nicosia region showed that of the 20.280 Turks,1004 used Greek as their mother tongue. [12] If we conclude that every Turkish person who’s mother tongue was Greek lived in our village (absolutely not the case, just used hypothetically) then of the 1.235 Turkish people in Luricina 231 registered Turkish as their mother tongue. Naturally it’s not possible that Luricina was the only village in the Nicosia area who had Turks using Greek as their mother tongue. The conclusion is that in-spite of widespread usage of Greek there was an element of at least 1 to 6 people who knew very good Turkish if not more. No doubt the people of Lurucina by a vast majority not only spoke fluent Greek but actually enjoyed it. In fact many of the older generation take great pride in their knowledge of the language, as a result many Lurucinians are now in the media and civil service where their translation skills are greatly appreciated. And why not?.
Village census from 1562-2006. [13]
Year Turkish Greek Total Turkish Cypriot population for the same period
1562 186 individuals (Venetian census)
1572* 27 Households
1643 ? ? 41 Households*
1831* 104 25 129*
1881 598 46.389
1891 621 87 708 47.926
1901 808 114 922 51.309
1911 946 144 1.090 56.428
1921 1079 158 1.237 61.339
1931 1235 150 1.385 64.245
1946 1717 99 1.816 80.548
1960 1547 3 1.550
1973 1963 – 1.963
1996 513 ** 513
2006 462 ** – 462
- only males were counted in Ottoman census’s
** includes other nationals
With WW2 on the horizon many Cypriots flocked to join the Cyprus Regiment. Many men from Lurucina also joined, among them Yusuf Ali ‘Üçokka’, Osman Yusuf ‘Verde’, Yusuf Mustafa ‘Nihda’, İsmail ‘Sgambilli’, Yusuf ‘Gondo’, Mihalis du Constanti, İbrahim ‘Şarvutti’, Ramadan ‘Kerlo’, Hüseyin ‘Ginezzo’ and Murat Mehmet ‘Geli’. There were 42 in total. [14]
Perhaps the most tragic was the twin sons of Mehmet Ramadan ‘Fgaga’ and Keziban Seyit-Ali Kavaz. The story of this family appears in the Kavaz family of the history section.
Perhaps another myth that Lurucinians amount to something like 15-20 thousand should be dismissed. No community in the world has shown a 12-14 fold increase in 80 years. Due to WW2 the census of 1941 was cancelled and was done in 1946 instead. The population by that time had reached 1816 which was a very high growth in percentage terms; [15] In fact even if we admit that a high number of our people left the village during the 1950’s the census of 1960 showed a large slowdown. As I have no definite figures the exact amount cannot be given. The postmarks of Cyprus published in 1970 shows that about 1700 resided in the village. Mr S Y Yakula was registered as the postal agent for Lurucina of that year. [16] No doubt the debate will go on. Perhaps it would help if we took Turkey as an example. In 1927 from a population of 13 million it has grown to about 80 million in 80 years, that’s around a six fold increase, but though Turkey registered a massive 2-3% annual growth for most of that period we need to bear in mind that the Turkish Cypriot rate of growth between 1931-1946 was 1.52%, and 1.91% at its peak between 1947-1960. [17] So even if Lurucina bucked the trend (as it did between 1881-1931) then the most optimistic forecast at 2.5% would double the population every 27 years, making it no more than 10 thousand which again is very unlikely. A realistic figure of 6-7 thousand is probably closer to the truth. One thing is clear however, regardless of their numbers the people of Lurucina have left a mark on the history of Cyprus like few other villages have. Very few people whether Greek or Turkish have not heard something relating to our village. That in itself is proof that Lurucina once held the pride of place among the 650 villages of Cyprus. Our job is to ensure that future generations have at least some knowledge of our past before it becomes buried in the ashes of history.
A very interesting historic find on our village needs researching. An old map prepared by General Kitchener in 1882. It covered the hills and terrain for military purposes. It only listed by name what he thought was essential, so I was very surprised to find that a large swath of land near the Nicosia Larnaca rd was named “Katrini”.[18] Nothing other than the Kastro mountain and a quarry were named. At 1st glance this may seem unimportant, on further study one realizes that as the Katrini family in Luricina is one of the oldest, and many ancestors still own large chunks of land. After 11 generations and into the 21st century, it can only bring us to one conclusion. No one in the late 1700 or 1800s could have owned such large amounts of land unless they were either Paşa’s or being in the position of being able to offer some kind of important service to the state. Was the Mehmet Katri family brought to the village in order to control the allegiance of the locals? or rewarded for some important service to the empire?. Old records show that this family “was rumoured to be from the Manisa, Aegean coast of Turkey”.[19] One thing is certain however, a very large percentage of Lurucinali’s are descended from this family.
[1] Excerpta Cypria 1912 Pages 429-30.
[2] Excerpta Cypria 1912 Pages 429-30.
[3] British Census of Cyprus, 1881, page 24
[4] Village Records of Ibrahim Tahsildar
[5] British Census of Cyprus, 1881, pages 17 & 24
[6] British Census of Cyprus, 1881, pages 17
[7] British Census of Cyprus 1931, page 75
[8] “Biblion du phsithisman 25 March 1921. by the Cyprus information office.
[9] Akıncılar (Lurucina) Türkleri’nin Yüzyıllık Varoluş Mücadelesi. page 44.
[10] “Biblion du phsithisman 25 March 1921. Page 110, by the Cyprus information office.
[11] British Census of Cyprus 1931.table XIX Page 75
[12] British Census of Cyprus 1931. Table XVIII, page 71
[13] table II page 21 of Halil Inalcik’s, Ottoman policy and administration in Cyprus after the conquest.
& P .R.I.O. (Peace Research Institute Oslo)
[14] “The Cypriot Volunteers of the 2nd World War: the registers, catalogues and blood sacrifice”, publisher: Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Author: Petros Papapolyviou
[15] British census 1946
[16] Postmarks of Cyprus, by M.A. Poole,1971.
[17] Kıbrısta Turk nüfusu . Ahmet Aydoğdu, 2004. Page 7
[18] Lord Kitchener’s maps of Cyprus (drawn in 1882, and published in 1885) Section 10
[19] Akıncılar (Lurucina) Türklerin Yüzyıllık Varoluş Mücadelesi By Hasan Yücelen ‘M
Great Cyprus Encyclopaideia
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