Templos ( gr, Τέμπλος, tr, Zeytinlik) is a Turkish Cypriot village in the

Kyrenia District Kyrenia District is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its main town is Kyrenia ( el, Κερύνεια; tr, Girne). It is the smallest of Cyprus' districts, and is the only one controlled in its entirety by the unrecognised de facto state o ...

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 ge ...

, two miles west of

Kyrenia Kyrenia ( el, Κερύνεια ; tr, Girne ) is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. While there is evidence showing that the wider region ...

.PRIO web site www.prio-cyprus-displacement.net/default.asp?id=625 retrieved Aug 2018 It is thought to be named after the Knights Templar, because during the

Lusignan The House of Lusignan ( ; ) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries duri ...

period it was one of their headquarters. It was later one of the commanderies of the Knights of St.John, when it had the name of Tembros History of Cyprus, by George Hill, vol.2, publ.Cambridge University Press, 1948; pp. 274 and 462 ( grc, Τέμβρος).Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, § T614.13
/ref> It was called Temros by its Turkish Cypriot inhabitants, but in 1975 its name was changed to Zeytinlik, meaning olive orchard. During the British period it was inhabited almost wholly by Turkish Cypriots. In 1960 it had 222 inhabitants, of which 161 were Turkish Cypriot.Census of Population and Agriculture 1960, pub.Printing Office of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicosia, 1960; Vol.1, Table IV This had grown to 796 in 2006 and 1,090 in 2011. Since 1964 it has been under the ''de facto'' control of the Turkish Cypriot community of Cyprus, first as an enclave, then after 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 intercommunal violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and in response to a Greek junta-s ...

in 1974 it was subsumed into the resulting Turkish sector of the island.

References

Communities in Kyrenia District Populated places in Girne District {{cyprus-geo-stub