Eliophotes: buildings 6a.

[Updated on 13th November 2010.]

That wall is the remains of the mosque (c.f. Constantinou and Hatay, 2010: 11 - fig. 3).

I've moved the discussion of 18th June 2009 here from a photo of the ruins of building 6c:

Turkish Cypriot journalist Hasan Karaokçu (2003) said that '[o]nly the village fountain and mosque remained'. I can't believe he wanted to say church but accidentally said mosque. He must have meant this ruin.

[Updated on the 18th of June 2009.]

On Cyprus Forum, Oracle commented that,

your assumptions and sweeping statements continue into putting words into other people's mouths on your own blog ...

"Eliophotes: buildings 6[a] - the mosque and the Church of Ayioi Eliophotes. Turkish Cypriot journalist Hasan Karaokçu (2003) said that '[o]nly the village fountain and mosque remained'. I can't believe he wanted to say church but accidentally said mosque. He must have meant this ruin."

How scientific is that: "I can't believe ...." ?

and: "He must have meant ..." !

So, I will try to explain more clearly.

There are only two standing "buildings" left in the village, if you include the fountain; otherwise, there is only the church. All of the other buildings are ruins, rubble, or disappeared; some of the ruins and rubble are disappearing, as the soil erodes down over them, and the plants grow up over them.

Either, Karaokçu was discussing every building in the village, and when he said that '[o]nly the village fountain and mosque remained', he mistyped "church" as 'mosque'; or he meant "the mosque is (now) a church"...

Or, Karaokçu was only discussing the condition of Turkish Cypriot places within the village, and when he said that '[o]nly the... fountain and mosque remained', he meant "the only remaining Turkish Cypriot places in the village are the fountain and the mosque", in which case, this ruin is the mosque, and by 'remain[ing]', he meant "destroyed but identifiable".

I assume he was only discussing the present conditions of Turkish Cypriot places within the village, and he meant this ruin, this destroyed but identifiable mosque, remained.

I assume this ruin is identifiable as a mosque because of the semi-circular part of the building shown more closely below. Domestic buildings do not have similar semi-circular parts. It appears too small and solid to be a church apse. So, I assume this is the base of a minaret.

[Turkish Cypriot refugees from Alihodes identified this ruin as the mosque; the ruin was identifiable to its former local community.]

Karaokçu, H. 2003c: "The present conditions of Turkish Cypriot villages in south Cyprus 3". Diplomatic Observer. Available at: http://www.diplomaticobserver.com/news_read.asp?id=838. Also available at: http://www.trncinfo.com/TANITMADAIRESI/2002/ENGLISH/SOUTHCYPRUS/koylerenglish.htm.