Rizokarpaso
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Rizokarpaso (Greek: Ριζοκάρπασο, Turkish: Dipkarpaz) is a town on the Karpass Peninsula in Famagusta District, North-eastern Cyprus. The town was taken over by the Turkish military during the invasion/intervention of the island by Turkey in 1974. Today Rizokarpaso is located in the Turkish controlled side of the island.
Rizokarpaso is the biggest town on the peninsula. Soil near the town consists of terra fusca which is very fertile. Local crops include carob, cotton, tobacco, and grain. A tobacco-factory operates in the town.
Before 1974, the town was predominantly inhabited by Greek-Cypriots. During the intervention/Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the peninsula was cut off by Turkish troops, and this prevented the town's Greek-Cypriot inhabitants from fleeing to the unoccupied South. As a result, Rizokarpaso is the home of the biggest Greek-speaking population in the North. The Greek-Cypriot inhabitants are still supplied by the UN, and Greek-Cypriot products are consequently available in some shops. Today, the town is also the home of a large Kurdish minority[citation needed], closely monitored by the Turkish-Cypriot de facto police. The town has both a Kafeneion and a Kahvehane and both seem to be used indiscriminately by both ethnic groups.
Since a few years the Greek Cypriot minority has re-established a small high school.
The town has two churches: St. Synesios and the church of the Holy Trinity. They are examples of the typical Cypriot mixed style, combining features of the late Gothic introduced by the Lusignans with the late Byzantine style of the Orthodox tradition. When the island's Orthodox bishops were banished by the Lusignans in 1222, the Bishop of Famagusta was sent to Rizokarpaso and continued his work in St. Synesios, the main Orthodox church in the region.
Rizokarpaso is partly located in the ancient city of Karpasia on the West coast, founded by king Pygmalion.
