![Escape Beach North Cyprus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Escape_Beach_North_Cyprus.jpg)
Karavas ( el, Καραβάς; tr, Alsancak is a town in the north of the
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 ...
island. It is under the ''
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 ...
'' 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 ...
. , the town has a population of 6,597.
Etymology
The name ''Karavas'' comes from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''karávi'' (), meaning "ship".
The name ''Alsancak'' comes from the two turkish words ''Al'', meaning "Red" and Sancak'' meaning "flag".
History
Prior to the
Turkish invasion in 1974, Karavas had a Greek population of approximately 2200. Karavas was captured by the
Turkish Army
The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...
before the second
Turkish invasion of Cyprus
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish ...
after July 20, 1974. The city was attacked on August 6, during the so-called armistice. All
Greek Cypriot
Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...
inhabitants were forced out of Karavas by Turkish military forces and have become refugees, living in Cyprus and abroad. Following the population exchange assisted by the United Nations where the Turkish Cypriots forced from their villages in the South were transported to the safety of the North, today the village is home mostly to those Turkish Cypriots displaced from their original village Mandria in the Paphos region left in the south of the island.
The Turkish Cypriot municipality Alsancak was founded in 1974.
"Pente Mili" is one of the most beautiful beaches in Karavas.
The
Cyprus Treasure
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 ...
, an impressive collection of silver vessels, dishes, spoons and jewelry, was found here in 1902 and 1917. It can be found in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and the Cyprus Museum in
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 ...
.
Notable people
Karavas is the ancestral village of the Cypriot-American
organic chemist
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...
K. C. Nicolaou
Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou ( el, Κυριάκος Κ. Νικολάου; born July 5, 1946) is a Cypriot-American chemist known for his research in the area of natural products total synthesis. He is currently Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of ...
.
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Karavas is
twinned with:
*
Bornova
Bornova is a metropolitan district of İzmir in İzmir Province in Turkey. It is the third largest district in İzmir's Greater Metropolitan Area of and is almost fully urbanized at the rate of 98.6 percent, with corresponding high levels of devel ...
, İzmir, Turkey (since 2011)
*
Gazipaşa
Gazipaşa () is a town and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey, 180 km east of the city of Antalya. Gazipaşa is a quiet rural district famous for its bananas, oranges and international airport of Gazi ...
, Antalya, Turkey (since 2015)
References
{{Authority control
Municipalities in Kyrenia District
Populated places in Girne District
Municipalities of Northern Cyprus