Ammadies is a small Turkish community in the occupied part of the Lefkosia district. It lies 26 kilometres west of Morfou, at an elevation of 180 metres, in the geographical region of Tillyria, near Limnitis and Kato Pyrgos. According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, the village has two parts: a southern one, on the small plateau between the Limnitis river and the Pyrgos river, and a northern one, near the Kato Pyrgos–Limnitis road.¹ In the 1960 census it had 141 inhabitants, all of them Turks.

Name

The official gazetteer of Cyprus writes the name “Ammadies”, and records the forest of the area under the same name; the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia also gives the local forms “Ammathkies” and “Ammadkies”.² On the land of the village the Gazetteer records, among others, the place-names Agios Georgios, Papa Giorgis and Argaki tou Papa Giorgi.³

Turkish rule

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, which cites N. Kliridis, the village was inhabited by Linovamvakoi, that is, Greek Christians who under Turkish rule outwardly accepted Islam to escape persecution by the Turkish administration, without wholly renouncing the Christian faith.⁴

British rule

The British architect George Jeffery, who recorded the historic monuments of Cyprus at the beginning of the 20th century, describes Ammadies and the neighbouring villages in 1918 as small settlements of mud cottages, inhabited chiefly by Moslems whose language, however, was Greek.⁵

Economy and society

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, a large part of the land of the village was left uncultivated. In 1971 only a very small area was vineyard, with the local black grape, and to the north, towards the sea, olives and carobs were grown. Almost every house had a few goats: the village had 418 goats, belonging to 48 owners, and only three sheep.⁶

Population

According to the Great Cyprian Encyclopaedia, the village had 140 inhabitants in 1881, 122 in 1891, 151 in 1901, 159 in 1911 and 175 in 1921.⁷ In 1931 Ammadies had 174 inhabitants, all of them Muslims, and in 1946 175, of whom 8 were Orthodox and 167 Muslims (the 1931 and 1946 censuses recorded only religion). In 1960 it had 141 inhabitants, all of them Turks, and in 1973 around 180 Turks (estimate).