Gönyeli ( el, Κιόνελι, Kioneli; tr, Gönyeli) is a town in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, near the capital city

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

. It is ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' under the control of

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, isl ...

. Over the years the town has merged with North Nicosia, making it connurbated with the city. Its population is 11,671.

History

Before the

Ottoman conquest of Cyprus Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

in 1571, the area consisted of empty fields. Upon the conquest, two families from

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

settled and founded Gönyeli, that of Kurt Ali from Anamur and Mehmet Efendi from

Aksaray Aksaray (, Koine Greek: Ἀρχελαΐς ''Arhelays'', Medieval Greek: Κολώνεια ''Koloneya'', Ancient Greek: Γαρσάουρα ''Garsaura'') is a city in the Central Anatolia Region, Turkey, Central Anatolia region of Turkey and the ca ...

. Over time, as the families grew in population, the village grew as a farming community speaking Turkish.

Culture

The football club Gönyeli Spor Kulübü is based in Gönyeli. Gönyeli's stadium, Ali Naci Karacan Stadı (named for journalist Ali Naci Karacan), houses football matches as well as concerts and the annual 23 April Children's Day events. Every July, the Gönyeli International Folk Dance Festival takes place in the town center. The event lasts one week, with groups of dancers from countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey performing traditional folk dance. Gönyeli is a popular town for students looking to rent accommodation as it is about 15 minutes driving distance from the

-based

Near East University Near East University (NEU; tr, Yakın Doğu Üniversitesi, commonly referred to as YDÜ) is a private university located in North Cyprus. It was founded in North Nicosia in 1988, by Suat Günsel, a Turkish Cypriot who is the 100% owner of NEU. ...

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Gönyeli is twinned with: *

Kızılcahamam Kızılcahamam is a town and district of Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, 70 km north of the city of Ankara, near the motorway to Istanbul. According to 2010 census, population of the district is 25,203 of which 16,72 ...

, Ankara, Turkey (since 2009) * Sarıyer, Istanbul, Turkey

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonyeli Communities in Nicosia District Populated places in Lefkoşa District Suburbs of Nicosia Municipalities of Northern Cyprus