Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

You may like to know of my experiences in Melandra in 1975 as i was a soldier with the United Nations who was stationed there from April until June of 1975 when Melandra was still inhabited by the Turkish community.We had the sad task of removing these unfortunate and desperately poor people from their homes and taking them in convoys to Nicosia.It was the worst thing that i have ever done as i had built up friendly relations with the whole village and i was very upset to say goodbye to everyone.If you would like to know more about the life and community of Melandra please e-mail or let me know and i would be glad to correspond.I also have a few snaps taken at the time in Melandra.Kind regards to you and peace to the world. Adrian Lee

It will be nice if u share pictures with us .

People of Melandra are settled in below places in North Cyprus now.

Aydınköy,(Prastio M) Güzelyurt,(Morfou) Kozanköy(Larnaka Lapitiu), Lefkoşa,(Nicosia)) Maraş-Mağusa(Varosai), Paşaköy(Assia), Serhatköy.(Filia) ,Şirinevler (Ag Ermolaos)

[Oracle]

The origin of the name Kios (nominative case, Kio is accusative case) is a Greek name and can be found in other areas of Greek habitation like Asia Minor and mainland Greece.

Is that related to 'Chios', at all?

[adrian lee]

Halal, I thankyou for your reply and i promise to make pictures of Melandra available.Please be patient as i am not experienced in making images on computer,but,you know,Melandra and its people are still very dear to my heart.Kind Regards Adrian Lee

[adrian lee]

Cymart, I Thankyou for your reply as my initial post was primarily for you.I have many stories and vivid impressions of my time in Melandra that i would like to share.However,it will take more than a couple of e-mails to relate!The place occupies a special place in my heart and i like to think that our small outpost of eight soldiers was at least able to provide some small degree of assistance and food and indeed sympathy to these frightened and fearful villagers who were cut off from the outside world to a large degree,and were without many of the basic neccessities which we all take for granted in the West.In fact,i felt a kinship with these lovely people that was beyond anything that i had experienced in my then young life.I too felt at home in Melandra,and i lost many friends when the village was abandoned.I had naively imagined that the troubles would soon be over and the people would return to their homes and land.I remember that on the day of the convoys i was sure that this would come to pass as there was no "scorched earth policy" by the residents and all the fruit trees and vines were heavy with lemons and grapes.I saw an elderly lady sweeping her yard whil;e the truck engines were revving up and all of her earthly possessions were piled on top.It made me cry and i turned away from embarrassment and shame.Peace to you and keep in touch if you would like to as i also want to hear your story. Kind Regards Adrian Lee

[halil]

Halal, I thankyou for your reply and i promise to make pictures of Melandra available.Please be patient as i am not experienced in making images on computer,but,you know,Melandra and its people are still very dear to my heart.Kind Regards Adrian Lee

it will be great . do u remember some of their names .

Mr Zeki Beşiktepeli is from Melandra and I know him very well .He is a professor at Near east University .He must be a young boy during 74.
his mail adress is:
[email protected]

[Kikapu]

Birkibrisli wrote about his village, Istinjo. As far as I recall the village name comes from "is tin Kio" which was corrupted (linguistically speaking, please no funny comments!) to Istinjo, pretty much the same way that 'is tin poli" became Istanbul.

The origin of the name Kios (nominative case, Kio is accusative case) is a Greek name and can be found in other areas of Greek habitation like Asia Minor and mainland Greece.

Another point to ponder is the tendency of Ottomans to settle lowlands rather than highlands. The phenomenon is evident in Greece and other Balkan countries where historically the Ottomans took over lowlands rather than highlands. It is a natural result of the quality and productivity of the land. The most productive land was the lowland area. Which makes the idea of establishing mountain villages in Cyprus in 1571 somewhat unlikely.

It is then probable that Istinjo was an established village in 1571 and was called Kios and the Turkish overlay came later. Can we assume that the villagers became Linovamvakoi?

historically the Ottomans took over lowlands rather than highlands.

So nothing has changed then in the last 400+ years, since modern day "Ottomans" like VP, Zan, YFred and few others are also taking the "Lowroads" rather than "Highroads" today.!

[YFred]

Birkibrisli wrote about his village, Istinjo. As far as I recall the village name comes from "is tin Kio" which was corrupted (linguistically speaking, please no funny comments!) to Istinjo, pretty much the same way that 'is tin poli" became Istanbul.

The origin of the name Kios (nominative case, Kio is accusative case) is a Greek name and can be found in other areas of Greek habitation like Asia Minor and mainland Greece.

Another point to ponder is the tendency of Ottomans to settle lowlands rather than highlands. The phenomenon is evident in Greece and other Balkan countries where historically the Ottomans took over lowlands rather than highlands. It is a natural result of the quality and productivity of the land. The most productive land was the lowland area. Which makes the idea of establishing mountain villages in Cyprus in 1571 somewhat unlikely.

It is then probable that Istinjo was an established village in 1571 and was called Kios and the Turkish overlay came later. Can we assume that the villagers became Linovamvakoi?

historically the Ottomans took over lowlands rather than highlands.

So nothing has changed then in the last 400+ years, since modern day "Ottomans" like VP, Zan, YFred and few others are also taking the "Lowroads" rather than "Highroads" today.!

Kiks baby, wash your mouth with soap immediately before you mention my name. Thank you.

[adrian lee]

Halil, Once again i thankyou for your reply.I am pleased to hear that you have a friend who was a young boy in Melandra in 1974.This is good news and i am glad that he is doing well in his life.I knew the young boys of the village very well and they taught me to speak a little Turkish language.Of the adults i do not remember names now but i remember the Mukhtar as he ran the local bar and he was the authority of the village who we always must deal with in any situation.The boys would laugh at my nickname as it sounded similar to the Turkish word for Goat,which i believe is Keci.Is that right?The names of the boys that i can remember were Ali,Halit and Jenghiz.I have a photograph of Jenghiz.All these were young boys of about eight years old or something.Is it possible to know who they are by this small information?It would be nice.Please keep in touch as you are very knowledgeable about a special people and a special time in a special place.Peace and Kind regards Adrian Lee

[halil]

Halil, Once again i thankyou for your reply.I am pleased to hear that you have a friend who was a young boy in Melandra in 1974.This is good news and i am glad that he is doing well in his life.I knew the young boys of the village very well and they taught me to speak a little Turkish language.Of the adults i do not remember names now but i remember the Mukhtar as he ran the local bar and he was the authority of the village who we always must deal with in any situation.The boys would laugh at my nickname as it sounded similar to the Turkish word for Goat,which i believe is Keci.Is that right?The names of the boys that i can remember were Ali,Halit and Jenghiz.I have a photograph of Jenghiz.All these were young boys of about eight years old or something.Is it possible to know who they are by this small information?It would be nice.Please keep in touch as you are very knowledgeable about a special people and a special time in a special place.Peace and Kind regards Adrian Lee

Adrian ,
I will try to find out where is the Ali, halit and Jenghiz for u .Pls put their pictures here they might be very happy .Cyprus changed a lot now . Most of the people are enjoying good sides of the world . They have chance to use all kind of equipments now .Not like the old days of Melandra .Their kids are very lucky .... they are luck because they are enjoying all modern world inventors . They can communicate with rest of the world .They can have nice dresses ,foods ....everything ......

Even Keci's are luck in these days
Yes u are luck Keci is goat in Turkish .

[Kikapu]

Birkibrisli wrote about his village, Istinjo. As far as I recall the village name comes from "is tin Kio" which was corrupted (linguistically speaking, please no funny comments!) to Istinjo, pretty much the same way that 'is tin poli" became Istanbul.

The origin of the name Kios (nominative case, Kio is accusative case) is a Greek name and can be found in other areas of Greek habitation like Asia Minor and mainland Greece.

Another point to ponder is the tendency of Ottomans to settle lowlands rather than highlands. The phenomenon is evident in Greece and other Balkan countries where historically the Ottomans took over lowlands rather than highlands. It is a natural result of the quality and productivity of the land. The most productive land was the lowland area. Which makes the idea of establishing mountain villages in Cyprus in 1571 somewhat unlikely.

It is then probable that Istinjo was an established village in 1571 and was called Kios and the Turkish overlay came later. Can we assume that the villagers became Linovamvakoi?

historically the Ottomans took over lowlands rather than highlands.

So nothing has changed then in the last 400+ years, since modern day "Ottomans" like VP, Zan, YFred and few others are also taking the "Lowroads" rather than "Highroads" today.!

Kiks baby, wash your mouth with soap immediately before you mention my name. Thank you.

You need to wash your mouth for mocking me and other TCs being held captives by the GCs in 1963 from Küçük Kaymakli, and unless you apologise for your insensitive remarks, I'm going to crap all over you at every chance I get. You can count on it.!