Özet:

The historical town of Morphou, which was renamed as Güzelyurt in 1975, was one of the distinguished settlements in Cyprus with a large Greek population. After the Cyprus Peace Operation, the Greeks of Morphou migrated to the south, and this town, which was abandoned, constituted a new living area for the Turkish Cypriots who came from many villages in the south, especially Limassol and Paphos. As a matter of fact, just before the Cyprus Peace Operation, there was a Greek population of 7,000-8,000 people there, but there were a few Turks. After 1975, this situation was reversed. This migration event in the recent history of Morphou, caused the real Morphou people who constituted the Muslim community of the town before 1974 to be forgotten, and the misconception that there were no Turkish Cypriots in the town at all grew. However, since the Ottoman period, Muslims were also residing here, albeit in limited numbers compared to the crowded Greek population. Contrary to their population, the place of Muslims, who were engaged in gardening and agriculture, in the dynamics of the town was at significant levels. Although they reside in Istanbul, some Muslims have a significant portion of the Morphou land as çiftliks, and the Greek population in the region lived on these çiftliks as workers. Undoubtedly, this situation provided an important assurance to the Muslim community of the town and also provided some advantages in its economic activities. This land law, which continued in the second half of the 19th century and even in the 20th century as a legacy of the Ottoman land regime, encourages the curiosity of investigating other examples on the island of Cyprus. As a matter of fact, the presence of Morphou Muslims in the town, who prefer to live in a large Greek population, seems to be related to these land law and çiftlik businesses, according to some of the findings in this research. Omorfo Muslims, who were very few in number, met their important needs in the field of worship and education with a few small foundations and primary education institutions under the administration of the Ottoman Ministry of Education. According to the archive records of the second half of the 19th century, an Omorfo Mosque with small foundation incomes and the Omorfo Ibtidai Mektebi, whose expenses were covered by the central government, were active. These were the only Muslim community institutions in the town. These institutions, which continued their activities during the British administration, continued their duties for nearly a century until the Muslims left the town as a result of inter-communal conflicts in 1963. In this study, it is aimed to determine the details of the Muslim community living in Morphou before 1974 and to be added to the literature. In the light of the population-property censuses carried out in the 19th century, the demographic and socio-economic conditions of the Muslims of Morphou were revealed. Afterwards, the general characteristics of the Muslims of the town in terms of population, religion and education were examined in the British period, and information was given about the Morphou people who continued to live in the town until the attacks of 1963. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with the relatives of some important community members and former Muslim residents of the town, especially the records of The Cyprus Gazette. Important names and information were obtained by compiling The Cyprus Gazette records. In this way, attention is drawn to the forgotten history of Morphou, which is known as the Greek Town and remains on the agenda, and the historical presence of Turkish Cypriots here. The aim of the study is to set an example for similar studies on different parts of Cyprus.

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