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Today (since the brutal illegal invasion of the Turkish army of 1974) the heartache and sorrow of the Akanthiotes (who are the rightful, and legal owners of Akanthou) and of those who knew Akanthou well, is very big. We can not wait for the Day when we will all be able to return, to our homes and our village, the homeland that gave birth to us and to our ancestors many centuries before us.
The area of Akanthou covers approx. 50 square miles. The landscape which is the combination of high mountains hill tops, deep cradles, ravines and beautiful valleys.
To the east and south, Akanthou is surrounded by peak tops with such names as: “Grousoupi” (Grousouppi), ”Diatripito” (Diatruphto), “Elympos” (ElumpoV), “ Mavron Oros ” (Mauron OroV) which means Black Mountain, “Kastro” (Kastro) which means Castle.
Looking at the village you get the feeling that nature is trying to hide it from the outside world. In fact that is true, the village was purposely built to obscure it from the view of the sea. In the old days the seas were being ploughed by pirates who were looking for unprotected villages to loot.
To the north of the village the terrain smoothens out towards “Trahona”(Tracwna), “Melissa”(Melissa), “Trika Teratsia”(Trika Teratsia), “Pergamos”(PergamoV), “Lainio ”(Lahnio), “Laxia” (Laxia), “Kapsalo”(KayaloV). At lower ground towards the breathtaking coastline you will find places like: “Helones” (CelwneV), “Ayios Haralambos ”(AgioV CaralampoV), “Ayios Mikalos” (AgioV MikaloV), “Neraides” (NeraideV), “Kaligrini” (Kalhgkrhnh). Of course these names mean nothing to the non-Akanthioti, but to the Akanthiotes just the sound of the name of these places will bring sorrow and tears to our eyes, the very eyes which by now have dried out from tears, waiting for the Day which we will be able to return to our homes. It is very hard for us the Akanthiotes and for the other rightful owners of other occupied Cypriot villages to accept the fact that a foriegn army from another country can invade Cyprus and take away our land with the force of arms and to this day since the Summer of 1974 our village has been occupied by the Turkish army, while the so called big super powers of the world sit back and do nothing about it.
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