Maratha ( gr, Μαράθα, tr, Muratağa) is a small village located in the

Famagusta District Famagusta District ( gr, Επαρχία Αμμοχώστου, Eparchia Ammochostu; tr, Mağusa kazası) is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its main town is the island's most important port, Famagusta. History Most of the district has b ...

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 ...

, 7 km south of

Lefkoniko Lefkoniko ( el, Λευκόνοικο; tr, Lefkonuk or ) is a town in the Mesaoria Plain under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus, claimed by Cyprus. Lefkoniko is the birthplace of Cypriot national poet Vasilis Michaelides and is known ...

. It is under the ''de facto'' 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 village was recorded as early as the early 13th century in papal documents. In 1974 a mass-grave containing the bodies of more than 80 murdered Turkish-Cypriots men, women and children was found here. These were the people who were

massacred A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

by the

EOKA-B EOKA-B () was a Greek Cypriot paramilitary organisation formed in 1971 by General Georgios Grivas ("Digenis"). It followed an ultra right-wing nationalistic ideology and had the ultimate goal of achieving the ''enosis'' (union) of Cyprus with ...

in the

Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre ( tr, Muratağa, Sandallar ve Atlılar katliamı) refers to a massacreOberling, Pierre. The road to Bellapais: the Turkish Cypriot exodus to northern Cyprus' (1982), Social Science Monographs, p. 185 of Turk ...

during the

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 ...

.Paul Sant Cassia, ''Bodies of Evidence: Burial, Memory, and the Recovery of Missing Persons in Cyprus'', Berghahn Books, 2007,
p. 237.
/ref>

References

{{Famagusta District Communities in Famagusta District Populated places in Gazimağusa District

See also

References